Canefarmers eyeing Ste Madeleine factory

Sugarcane farmers are calling on the Government to hand over the abandoned Usine Ste Madeleine sugar factory to them without further delay.President of the Sugarcane Farmers Cooperative Society (SFCS), Ramdeo Ramcharan, said, "We have sent three letters to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar requesting a meeting and so far we have been ignored."

He said the future of 4,000 farmers and over 80,000 people depended on Persad-Bissessar's decision.

"Former prime minister Patrick Manning was determined to wipe out the sugar industry. But prior to the elections, support to the farmers came from Works Minister Jack Warner, Foreign Affairs Minister Surujrattan Rambachan, Finance Minister Winston Dookeran and also the Prime Minister," he added.

He said it was time the Government delivered on its promise. Ramcharan said the sugar refinery can be used to generate an income. "We need to know now so that farmers can replant their fields and repair work carried out on the factory to prepare for a 2012 harvest," he said.

The SFCS was formed in 2006 just before the Government pulled out of the industry.

Sale of the factory by the Government was advertised and the sole tender submitted by the cooperative, which was willing to pay $7 million.

Ramcharan said the SFCS made a bid for all the assets of the Ste Madeleine factory.

"The Sugar Manufacturing Company Ltd (SMCL) was still under operation and only the mill was offered to the farmers. We could not raise the finance based on the mill alone," he said.

The SMCL was closed down last year by the People's National Movement administration, which deemed it unprofitable.

The sugar industry was shut down eight years ago with the closure of Caroni Ltd. Private sugar company Gopaul and Sons has been using the Ste Madeleine facility for the packaging and distribution of imported white sugar.

Human resource manager of Gopaul and Sons, Wayne Bridgemohansingh, said the company has been renting the facility for the past six years.

The SFCS has criticised the Government for ignoring the farmers.

"You do not give support to people who have corn to grow more corn," he said.

Ramcharan said the farmers were without an income and searching for a way to make a living.

He said that, in order to revive the agricultural sector, sugarcane farming was crucial.

source: trinidadexpress