Clarke GOVERNMENT IS exploring a plan to produce electricity from sugar cane milling as it desperately seeks to develop measures to save the ailing sugar industry.
The electricity generated would result in a reduction of the operating and maintenance cost of boilers as well as a reduction in the cost of irrigation. Also, the surplus energy would be sold the Jamaica Public Service Company, generating income for the industry.
"We are moving in that direction," Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke told the House of Representatives yesterday, adding that the implementation of the measure could realise significant savings for the industry.
The Minister who said there needed to be far-reaching changes in the operations of the industry also told the House that the Government would be providing some $450 million to cane farmers to assist them with replanting this crop season.
He was making his contribution to the debate on the report of a joint select committee of Parliament which was set up to examine the future of the the sugar industry.
The report which was approved by the House warned that it cannot be business as usual in the sugar industry.
The committee suggested that financial viability should be determined on an estate-by-estate basis and suggested serious consideration of rationalisation and proposed Bernard Lodge, Monymusk, Hampden and Long Pond as candidates for mergers.
It also suggested that a return to the production of refined sugar in Jamaica should be analysed and the results incorporated into a recovery plan and an "efficient and efficacious" system of cane-harvesting be introduced.
The committee recommended a five-year recovery plan, featuring a Government-sponsored price support mechanism to provide a reasonable return to sugar farmers and producers.
Yesterday Ronnie Thwaites, who chaired the committee, said the industry could no longer be a burden on the public purse. His comments came against the background of a motion tabled in the House on Tuesday by Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies seeking Parliamentary guarantee of a $4.1 billion loan to write off debts incurred by the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ).
The guarantee was set to be approved in the House yesterday but the item was not taken. The Gleaner understands that Dr. Davies put off taking the resolution to allow Opposition Leader Edward Seaga time to make his input on the matter.
