“He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still” – Samuel Butler (1612-1680) English Poet and Satirist – Hudibras Part iii Canto iii Lines 547-550.
IT IS NOT MY REMIT to convince Richard Hoad that the sugar industry as a business should be self-sustainable.
As far as the sugar industry is concerned, we are both watching cricket at Kensington Oval, he in the George Challenor Stand with a good view of the LBW decisions, I from the bleachers near the scoreboard with a bird’s eye view of the run-outs.
However, I would remind him that since the signing of the Lome Convention Agreement in 1975, the sugar industries of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries had been receiving preferential treatment for 25 years with an extension by the Cotonou Partnership Agreement of 2000.
The birth of the World Trade Organisation would have had some effect since then, but suffice to say, the sugar industry has received the comfort of preferential treatment for many years.
In the year 2001, an agronomist and adviser in agriculture at the University of the West Indies by the name of Dr Belal Ahmed produced a paper entitled: The Impact Of Globalisation On The Caribbean Sugar And Banana Industries.
Ahmed also co-authored a book, The Political Economy Of Food And Agriculture In The Caribbean; and was a consultant to private companies such as Caroni Ltd Trinidad and Tobago, and international organisations including the United Nations Development Programme, United States Agency for International Development as well as the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute.
In his above-mentioned paper, Ahmed made the following points in relation to the sugar industry:
• Lack of increased production and productivity;
• Absence of economies of scale of production;
• Labour problems and high cost;
• Slow pace of crop diversification;
• Few value-added products developed;
• Higher cost of inputs due to currency liberalisation;
• Low levels of technology used in the production systems;
• Inadequate research and development support.
As part of his summary, Ahmed emphasised as follows: “The short-term survival strategy of the industry should be to address the above concerns at the earliest possible time.
“In the long run, Caribbean governments must take a hard look at both the sugar and banana industries, and arrive at a pragmatic decision regarding their fate, which means closing down some losing concerns and moving to other profitable ventures, including tourism, information technology and agro-processing industries.”
Anyone, including Richard Hoad, should not miss the opportunity to familiarise themselves with what Ahmed has to say about agriculture and the sugar industry across the Caribbean, though they may be of the same opinion still.
– MICHAEL RAY
