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Another Sweet Fiasco?

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Submitted by Crusoe

According to our Nation daily, there has been some confusion on the start of the sugar cane reaping season, with farmers unaware of the schedule set by the authorities.

However, the Government has indicated its intent to invest taxpayer dollars heavily into a new sugar processing plant, costing hundreds of millions.

Does it seem logical, that a Government so intent on splurging taxpayer dollars, cannot even manage a sugar cane reaping schedule and that there is so much confusion between government and farmers?

Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing?

Do they even care?

Or is intent only to spend taxpayer dollars on a failing industry? To the benefit of, not the farmers, not the taxpayers, but those who are contracted to build the plant, take their profits and walk away?

Leaving taxpayers to repay a huge loan and farmers no better off?

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170 responses to “Another Sweet Fiasco?”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    @Crusoe

    When submitting a thought please click on the confidential link at the top of the page. Thanks!

    @Vincent

    We inquired from a source but they were reluctant to speak on the issue. People running scared it seems.

  2. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Will there be a crop to harvest this year??? Lawddie dem got to rename Crop Over Festival because there isn’t a crop to get over.

  3. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    We will rename the festival “Crap Over” after the next election.

  4. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    @David…

    Thanks for your effort

    Nobody wants to acknowledge the death of the sugar industry,under this Govts. watch…..presently it will take 5-10 years to bring it back to a start position and another 25 years to make it viable.

    IG246 is correct ,they better start looking for a new name as well as another category for awards

    ……then we have an island tour for our visitors of the various overgrown/untidy/bushy fields of new crops,that the commentators/drivers have to learn the names of such as cow itch,elephant grass,bonavis,pig twistle,etc,etc,etc…..a new Bim……enjoy.

  5. Disgusted Avatar
    Disgusted

    Maybe some Gov’t minister/magician can convert sugar cane into natural gas because the entire West Coast hospitality sector was AGAIN out of gas this week!!! Wednesday night and all day yesterday. This is beyond third world, it is beyond comprehension.

  6. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    And you wonder how we arrived at this point?

  7. David Avatar
    David

    Heard the news this morning that the government owes the farmers for last year’s harvest, some 5 million dollars. Another case like overdue tax refunds.

  8. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Barbados sugar cane. Barbados golden crystal sugar. Barbados molasses to make Barbados branded rum.

    Sugar cane crops rotated. Sweet potatoes and yams grown on Sugar plantations.

    Barbados bagasse for chicken pens and other possible agricultural uses.

    Barbados has had a sugar industry since about 1640.

    Every effort must be made to either make this industry viable or find an alternative.

  9. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    A consequence of a failed sugar industry is the rum industry would become 100% dependant on imported molasses.

    If we think we can continue unbridled reliance on imports we are truly brassbowls as described by Bushie.

  10. David Avatar
    David

    How can we boast of having the ‘best’ rum with a non existent sugar industry.

    On Thursday, 15 January 2015, Barbados Underground wrote:

    >

  11. Grace Fuller Avatar
    Grace Fuller

    Why Patrick Bethell don’t tell Bajans his true motivation?

    He is a member of the Sagicor owned Barbados Farms board of Directors, and that Barbados Farms wants to take over the sugar cane industry in Barbados now that they see that there is money to be made from a restructured industry?

  12. David Avatar
    David

    @Fuller

    How is money to be made?

    What are these restructured plans you mentioned?

  13. Grace Fuller Avatar
    Grace Fuller

    Can you get you hand on the business plan?

  14. David Avatar
    David

    No Fuller, email it.

  15. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    David

    Pray tell what is wrong with Sagicor taking over the Sugar Industry in Bim?
    Is anybody else interested?If so what is the problem?

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    Clico had a chance so why not Sagicor?

  17. Grace Fuller Avatar
    Grace Fuller

    cant

  18. Grace Fuller Avatar
    Grace Fuller

    Vincent
    Privatise the profits and socialise the debts, right?

  19. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Grace Fuller January 15, 2015 at 12:55 PM #

    Vincent
    Privatise the profits and socialise the debts, right?
    ……………………………………

    Give me the alternative.

  20. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Fuller

    Are the farmers owed or not?

  21. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Hants
    If we think we can continue unbridled reliance on imports we are truly brassbowls as described by Bushie.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++
    ..so wait a minute Hants….
    What the hell do you mean by “IF”……?

    IF!!?….
    You thought that Bushie was joking….?

  22. David Avatar
    David

    If minister David Estwick wants to be taken seriously he needs to come clean on what he knows about the state of the sugar industry, call his ultimatum or shut the hell up.

  23. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    David

    It is over,an era has come to an end…….no money

  24. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David January 15, 2015 at 4:29 PM

    David, are you dismissing the PM’s blessed assurance that there will be a sugar crop for 2015 and beyond in the sweet bye and bye?
    He gave that calm assurance that there will be adequate funds to ensure a bumper crop of sweet nothings.
    In the god of Money you should no longer trust; only in the word of Lord Fumble Almighty. The CLICO policyholders and pensioners will certainly agree!

    Why are you surprised at the death throes of King Sugar? The industry has been in a comatose state of sucrose financial deficiency for sometime now.

    Only a shot of Genuine Old Bajan Rum of 1703 vintage made from 100% imported molasses can revive the drunken king!

    Good bye King Sugar, Queen Tourism of Bush Tea Prostitution Hill is behind you!

  25. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    Is it too much to ask these jokers to just give it up.. like a ole plough horse unable to get the job done….and save this forsaken country and its people any more embarrassment?
    Is there anything left that these misfits can and will do wrong before they do?

  26. St George's Dragon Avatar
    St George’s Dragon

    Giving the industry to Sagicor seems like a really good idea. After all they can’t make more of a mess of it, can they?

  27. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    I fully agree. An industry SHOULD be run by private enterprise. Government is a facilitator and ‘guardian of the gate’ for social justice, regulatory necessities and to ensure social responsibilities of a nation are discharged.

    Nothing more.

    If such as Sagicor are willing to take the lead, good thing.

    Plus, it would give the insurance company, which NEEDS long term investments as well as profits and cashflows, to support its insurance liabilities, another avenue to do so.

    However, the current state of the industry cannot go forward.

  28. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Would we prefer to see the Japanese or the Chinese taking over the sugar industry? If Sagcor/Barbados Farms want to take over the sugar industry, we should be thankful that someone has come along to rescue it out of the incompetent hands of the government and whosoever else has mashed it up over the years.
    By the way start booking your Old Years Night party tickets. Venue The Rusty ruins of Andrew Sugar Factory, like we did at Bulkeley.

  29. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ old onion bags January 15, 2015 at 5:04 PM
    “…and save this forsaken country and its people any more embarrassment..”

    Oh what poor Bajans had to go through, almost two years of daily embarrassment, shame and scandal!
    It seems this administration is led by a king with the reverse Midas touch. Every thing they are involved in turns to lead, sinking fast the once good ship Barbados.

    I gave them two years to fully cook in their own mess of lies and incompetence. But it seems that the stew made from these political goats has burnt the pot of Bajan tolerance.
    Even Sinckler and the Guv have run out of lies.

    I am sure the people would not mind supporting the incoming administration to amend MPs pension legislation to allow the clowns to have a measure of financial comfort in their remaining years in political oblivion equivalent to what they would be entitled to as at February 2018.

  30. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    We should learn from what was done in 1955, and is still an albatross around the necks of the taxpayers of Barbados. The government of the day took most of the public transport out of the hands of private concessionaires,and only once in those almost 60 years did the Transport Board made a profit, while some of those private concessionaires were known to have bought sugar plantations, and had upscale real estate rented out .

  31. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Growing cane for the sole purpose of producing raw sugar is obviously not viable.

    However diversifying and rebranding is an option.

    I find it hard to believe that nobody is looking at the CANE industry and the value of

    PURE BARBADOS SUGAR

    PURE BARBADOS RUM

    I already mentioned the obvious agricultural linkage to ground provisions etc.

  32. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    islandgal246 January 15, 2015 at 7:26 AM #

    Will there be a crop to harvest this year??? Lawddie dem got to rename Crop Over Festival because there isn’t a crop to get over.
    …………………………………………………………………………………
    Once at the start of the new year there were harvest festivals at every church across the island, rendering such hymns as “We plough the fields and scatter “, and ” All God’s gifts around us.” etc etc.
    Today it would be more applicable conducting a funeral service for sugar and more appropriate to sing, ” Rock of Ages .” and ” Abide with me.”

  33. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Fear play ……LOL CRAP OVER ROFL GOOD ONE! Luv it!

  34. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Now that the Clico Pensioners have been informed that there is no more funds left in the kitty to continue to pay their pensions, maybe the time is right for the seizure and sale of those CLICO owned plantations in St John, which are the pioneers of bushy and unproductive lands in Barbados, to compensate these poor people ,who in the twilight of their lives have been scammed out of their nest eggs,by a bunch of unscrupulous and thieving bastards. And while we are at it, we should also level on the estate of Leroy Parris, , and that of the late PM Thompson. Oh dear! pass me another speaker, I think I have broken two.
    I wonder if Leroy Paris’s hefty pension is affected by this No fund left in kitty saga.
    Bajans need to wake up and take a piece of advice from Ronald Jones.

  35. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Colonel Buggy ”January 15, 2015 at 8:47 PM # Now that the Clico Pensioners have been informed that there is no more funds left in the kitty to continue to pay their pensions, maybe the time is right for the seizure and sale of those CLICO owned plantations in St John”

    You must be joking? Surely those lands have been sold and distributed to the creditors (banks / policyholders) of the company, as would happen with any company that is insolvent??

    What are they waiting for?

    What a charade.

  36. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    No wonder we cant get investors here, only a lunatic would invest millions where the outcome is questionable in so many ways.

  37. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    We really do need a third party with FRESH blood and a new dispensation.

    Mainly Integrity, but REAL this time.

  38. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Crusoe January 16, 2015 at 3:23 AM #

    We really do need a third party with FRESH blood and a new dispensation.

    Mainly Integrity, but REAL this time.
    ………………………………………………………………

    From where and to do what??????

    Time we stop burying our head in the sand my generation and the one before it created the pool of humans on this island and we are responsible fot the education and thinking that they presently espouse by commission and ommission………………we messed up big time.

  39. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    It is now mid Jan, any word from Minister David ‘Ultimatum’ Estwick on when the crop will start?

  40. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    No need to starts this years crop too early. From the looks of it the sugar harvest can be started and completed in the week preceding Good Friday.

  41. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    If there is a crop this year one of the rum producers should buy the molasses and produce 100% Barbados rum.
    The imported molasses would be used for the “regular” no namerum.lol

  42. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    David

    As I said before…..um done…..finito……

    When the cost of starting the factory is weighed against the cost of bringing in the “poor rakey” few canes with a low sucrose content,commonsense should prevail.

  43. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    Effectively you have called out the minister of Agriculture read he is a liar.

  44. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    David

    Proof of the pudding is the eating thereof.

  45. Norst the Invader Avatar
    Norst the Invader

    Vincent
    Do you care to share you ‘financial plan’ which demonstrates that a new factory is not viable?

  46. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Norst the Invader January 17, 2015 at 3:43 PM
    Vincent
    Do you care to share you ‘financial plan’ which demonstrates that a new factory is not viable?
    ……………………………………………………………………………………
    What raw material is this new factory expected to work with? Certainly not sugar canes,unless like the molasses ,we also import sugar canes from the Dominican Republic or Guyana.

  47. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    @Colonel Buggy January 17, 2015 at 7:55 PM #

    Well said.

  48. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Colonel Buggy and Vincent
    wunna fellas are making a BASIC mistake….

    Norst asked “Do you care to share you ‘financial plan’ which demonstrates that a new factory is not viable?”

    What WUNNA need to ask is “VIABLE FOR WHAT?” …before concluding that Norst is off track.

    A New sugar factory would certainly accomplish the following…
    1- Allow the government to claim to be doing something – while their pension time is satisfied
    2- facilitate multiple consultations, studies, surveys and other opportunities for personal enrichment at public expense
    3 – Provide ‘jobs’ for political yard fowls
    4 -Require significant ‘legal work’ reading contracts and providing ‘opinions’ for party lawyers who are not getting monthly salaries
    5 – Provide vital funds for future political campaigns

    …so what EXACTLY wunna mean by NOT viable?
    wunna feel that politicians give a shit about profitability. sustainability, efficiency, national interest or doing the RIGHT thing…?

    steupss …don’t let down the bushman PLEASE!!!

  49. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    @Bush Tea January 18, 2015 at 9:09 AM #

    @ Colonel Buggy and Vincent
    wunna fellas are making a BASIC mistake….

    My humblest apologies……

  50. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Bush Tea January 18, 2015 at 9:09 AM-
    “… facilitate multiple consultations, studies, surveys and other opportunities for personal enrichment at public expense..”

    So that is the real reason behind the formation of the new company with those senators Mr. Physical Deficit Ince and that crook lawyer to the mafia corporate world of business as directors and backed by Sinckliar and Darcy Quisling Boyce?
    Would the new company (like the WTE Cahill scam) be contracted to advise the government on the financing options and way forward for a ‘duppy’ sugar industry?

    Jesus H C, I mean the JM sucked the last drop of financial blood from the walking dead CLICO horse before declaring it financially decomposed.
    Is that what this new vulture company is about to do to the sugar industry before turning it into bagasse not fit even as litter on Mrs. Ram dead chicken farm , but this time at taxpayers’ expense?

    Bushie can you remember how many studies, investigations and proposals have been undertaken by the various mock pathologists to the industry as to the way forward for the ‘duppy’ industry?
    Maybe Vincent Haynes is keeping count (of the notches on the cane that both of you used to break from Waterford Bottom to suck) and can let us know.

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