Sugar cane farmers should soon come into a financial harvest, as Minister of Agriculture Dr David Estwick says the long overdue payment to them is “in the bank” and should be disbursed starting today.
Estwick was speaking on Sunday at a joint meeting of Democratic Labour Party St Michael constituencies at the Lawrence T Gay School. He promised that by today the latest, the first $12 million distribution from the Cabinet-approved $70 million ANSA Merchant Bank loan would start. Disbursements, he added, would continue through to June.
On the issue of the arrears for which the farmers had been clamouring, Estwick vowed that he would settle it but asked for time to do so. He said he now had to ensure that the sugar cane harvesting got going in order to reap whatever could be had.
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