#SectoralDebate: No alternative but to make sugar industry work — Samuda
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Karl Samuda says the Government has no choice but “make sugar work”.
The minister, in his contribution to the 2017/18 Sectoral Debate this afternoon, said that sugar was an essential crop for Jamaica’s success.
He said that any abandonment would have massive and far-reaching social and financial consequences. Samuda argued that there is no other crop that occupies over 70, 000 acres of land and provides over 50, 000 jobs for workers.
The minister said the crop also provides US$75-100 million in foreign exchange earnings per year, while being resilient and environmentally friendly.
“We simply have to make sugar work,” Samuda said, arguing that sugar has the potential to be economic valuable if the Government addressed issues of productivity in the fields, fertilised properly and provided constant water supply for estates.
He said the industry would also have to expand the production of package sugar.
Yakum Fitz-Henley