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IN LIGHT of the unilateral changes by the European Union (EU) to the Sugar Protocol with African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, Jamaica has developed a country strategy for sugar, which was recently approved by Cabinet.
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson disclosed on Monday that Cabinet, at its recent three-day retreat, agreed that a priority was to ensure that residents of communities in areas dependent on sugar production did not suffer from lack of adequate social services during the transition process.
Last October, Mr. Patterson announced that his administration was closing down the state-run sugar factories and promised to sell them for $1 to any interests who produced a viable business plan. His announcement was prompted by the stated intention of the EU to reduce by 39 per cent the price at which it bought sugar from ACP producers. The price cut was eventually 36 per cent.
"The social interventions in these areas will include community sensitisation exercises, strengthening of health educational institutions, skills training programmes," Mr. Patterson told reporters during a briefing at Jamaica House. "We plan support programmes to ensure that the most vulnerable groups of community residents, including children, and the elderly, are protected."
The Prime Minister also announced that, under the country strategy, any sugar workers who might be displaced would be equitably compensated.
Mr Patterson reiterated that the future of the local sugar industry would be based on three main products:
The annual production targets are 200,000 tonnes of raw sugar and up to 130,000 tonnes of molasses by 2010, and the country envisages up to 70 million litres of hydrated ethanol per annum from sugar cane grown in Jamaica.
The implementation of the country strategy, the Prime Minister noted, is estimated to cost US$671.8 million (J$43.7 billion) over the 10-year period from 2006-2015.