Barbados Farms Limited (BFL), one of the country’s longstanding growers of sugar cane and food crops, is relying on its parent company Sagicor for financial support.
When its 2025 financial year ended last June 30, the company’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by $20 million, up from $17.3 million in 2024 and it recorded a total comprehensive loss of $4.4 million, an increase over the previous year’s $3.7 million.
This information is disclosed in the 2025 annual report and its published financial statements for the year, which do not cast doubt on its ability to continue as a going concern.
However, BFL, which also develops parcels of its own land for sale as residential lots and has been trying to diversify into renewable energy, has had to turn to its parent again for funds to keep operating.
The 2025 financial statements said despite the large liabilities and financial losses, “management . . . considers it appropriate to prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis”.
Appropriate financial support
“On March 13, 2026, the directors received confirmation from the parent company that it will continue to, and guarantee, to provide appropriate financial support to the company as may be required, to enable the company to continue its operations at its present level of activity and to meet its obligations as they fall due in the normal course of business for a period of at least 12 months,” the financials stated.
BFL’s most recent published financial statements show that for the period ended March 31, its current liabilities exceeded current assets by $22.5 million, and the total comprehensive loss was $2.5 million.
The company is a subsidiary of Sagicor Life Inc., which holds 77 per cent of the share capital, and its ultimate parent company is Sagicor Financial Company Ltd.
In a March 13, 2026 statement published in the 2025 annual report, chairman The Most Honourable Dodridge Miller attributed the company’s increased financial losses last year largely to “a reduction in the tonnage of sugar cane harvested in addition to an increase in wages of two per cent island wide – minimum wage – and the overall increases on prices of inputs, some as high as 100 per cent”.
“Revenue from cultivated crops for the financial year 2025, decreased by 17.33 per cent from the previous year and our gross margin returned a negative $885 899 in 2025 compared to a negative gross margin of $472 200 in 2024. Management has continued to effectively manage other operating costs during the year,” he reported.
Miller detailed how BFL’s sugar cane production performed in 2025, highlighting some challenges.
“The 2025 sugar cane harvest commenced on March 3, 2025 and concluded on June 4, 2025. The late start of the crop had a direct impact on the quality of the cane altogether,” he said.
“BFL harvested 13 560 tonnes of sugar cane in 2025. We delivered 17 260 tonnes to Portvale Factory in 2024, as distinct from the 22 466 tonnes in 2023. This is a decrease of 21 per cent which was mainly due to reduced acreage under harvest, and very poor yields from Castle and Lamberts farms in the north of the island.”
Cultivation equipment
He added: “Revenue from sugar cane delivered to the factory decreased by 8.2 per cent to reach $3 million, compared to $3.2 million for 2024. The average price for 2024 was $184.12 per tonne, based on the sucrose content; however in 2025 it increased to $201.75 per tonne.
“We were unable to increase our acreage under production and improve the quality of our sugar cane in 2025. Our revenue from non-sugar agriculture also decreased by $433 000.”
The chairman explained that “this poor agricultural performance was mainly due to the lack of suitable cultivation equipment and timely agricultural inputs across the BFL farms”.
“We have been hampered in the past by the failure of our cultivation and other farming equipment due to the age of this equipment. Our board has agreed to invest in some new equipment, which should improve our operational efficiency on our farms in the future,” he shared.
“A significant increase in cultivation of our arable land is required to increase our production and yields in both sugar cane and non-sugar crops.
“With the expected improvement in our operations, we expect to be able to increase our acreage under cultivation and production thereby increasing our agricultural revenue on our farms.”
Meanwhile, Miller said the development of land at Carmichael Crescent in St George was very successful and “we are continuing our plans for development of low to middle income house lots on our non-arable lands and will be pursuing this strategy over this planning cycle”.
BFL’s efforts to developed solar energy projects has been delayed because the electricity grid has reached its renewable energy limit in the absence of battery storage.
The company said it was also in discussion with the Ministry of Energy and the International Finance Corporation on the terms for the use of BFL land at Lamberts, St Lucy and The Castle, St Peter for the installation of wind turbines.
Miller said BFL would “continue to prioritise how we allocate our limited capital and human resources across our operations as we seek the most optimal returns for our company while contributing to the improvement of the island’s food security”. (SC)