| Date: Thu 27-Oct-1994 Paper Page: 13 Publication: Daily Nation Minister of environment Dr Richard Cheltenham says 80 000-90 000 tonnes would be a more realistic target for a return to a viable sugar industry than the currently projected 66 000 tonnes. His argument considers Barbados' having to meet its overseas contractual obligations, and still retain a surplus for local use. He was speaking in the House of Assembly Tuesday during debate on a resolution authorising Government to guarantee payment of $45 million in bonds needed to help revitalise the sugar industry. Cheltenham, a former Minister of Agriculture, said the issue centred on the survival of the industry which continued to be important to the island's economy, and Government was right to give it a last chance. Some factors in support of sugar: it was still an employer of at least 4 000; no other crop could cover the soil and meet the island's peculiar circumstances; it remains a pillar of the rum industry; and was important for environmental reasons because without it the island could become a virtual wasteland. Despite his opposition to the production target, Cheltenham accepted certain proposals in the current restructuring exercise, including the policy of amalgamating farm units, bulk purchasing of fertilisers and weedicides, and pooling of labour. The exercise, he added, must also be linked to the return of idle lands to production; to a land use policy that turns its face against alienation of good arable land for other purposes; and to a policy which no longer accommodates the further closure of factories because it could lead to a falloff in the number of smallholders and of units in production. Cheltenham opposed the proposed closure of Bulkeley's Factory. He acknowledged that it was a factory on the verge of collapse, with two of its boilers dating back to 1901 and 1936 and needed to be replaced, but felt its closure would be "madness". |