- NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Cane cutters were in a militant mood earlier this year during a protest at the main gate to the Bernard Lodge sugar factory in St. Catherine. They were pressing for better working conditions and an increase in the price for cutting cane.
Winston Hay, Contributor
MAURITIUS/JAMAICA COMPARISON
THE CULTIVATION of sugar cane and manufacture of sugar have been intricately intertwined with Jamaica's history ever since the beginnings of European colonisation. The country's cultural, demographic, economic and social development have all been strongly influenced by sugar.
The industry continues to be of critical importance to the Jamaican economy and the crisis with which it is currently faced should be of concern to every person who is seriously interested in Jamaica's welfare. For many such persons, however, obtaining positive information as to the direction in which the sector is headed is a very difficult problem.
In August 2001, I was invited by the African Energy Policy Research Network to participate in a seminar on power sector reforms and their implications for cogeneration in the sugar industry. The seminar was presented in Mauritius, selected because that island is considered the model for Eastern and Southern Africa in sugar sector cogeneration.
COMPARISONS IN INDUSTRY
My observations in Mauritius led me to make comparisons between the sugar industries there and here in Jamaica, comparisons which, by and large, are still valid today. Some relevant statistics as they were in 2000 are given in the table below. Most of the values indicated will not have changed significantly in the intervening period.
The Prime Minister of Mauritius delivered the keynote address at the seminar. In his presentation, he noted that Mauritius would find it increasingly difficult to remain internationally competitive in sugar manufacture, a circumstance exacerbated by the World Trade Organisation requiring the European Union to reduce the preferential prices paid to Mauritius and other developing countries for sugar exported to Europe.
Although undertaking to resist the price reduction, the Prime Minister said that in the long run, it was in Mauritius' interests to reduce its economic dependence on sugar. As a step in that direction, the government had decided to invest US$100 million in developing the island's information technology sector. However, the government was not writing off the sugar industry but would increase its efforts to improve the sector's efficiency to the maximum realistically achievable.
Despite its success in being well on the way towards becoming a 'cyber island', Mauritius is still devoting concentrated attention to strengthening the sugar industry. The government vigorously agitates for a more gradual reduction in the subsidised prices paid for sugar by the countries of the European Union but is at the same time embarking on major reforms to increase the competitiveness of the sector.
It has developed and is in the process of implementing detailed plans to address the challenges facing the industry. The salient features of these plans are presented in a 15-page document entitled 'A Roadmap for the Mauritius Sugar Cane Industry for the 21st Century' that is posted on the internet at www.gov.mu/portal/goc/moa/files/roadmap.doc.
THE PLANS INCLUDE:
Reducing the number of sugar factories from 11 to six by 2015, and the acreage in cane from 72,000 hectares to 65,000 with a slight reduction in annual sugar production - from 575,000 tons to 550,000; Increasing the area under irrigation from 21,000 hectares to 31,000; Increasing sales to the grid of electricity generated from bagasse to 600 GWh (from 360) and that generated from coal burnt in sugar factory boilers to 1100 GWh (from 420); Reducing the number of workers directly employed in the industry by 50 per cent. In 2001, labour costs accounted for more than 50 per cent of production costs. A voluntary retirement scheme has been introduced and its generous benefits have already induced more than 8,000 workers to take advantage of its provisions. Workers who do not opt for voluntary retirement will continue to enjoy permanent status and its related benefits. Special attention is paid to ensuring that the labour, social and welfare aspects of the plan are given special attention and that the restructuring process is conducted in a socially-sensitive manner;
Promoting fast-track modernisation and diversification of the industry.
CO-GENERATION AND ETHANOL FOR THE JAMAICAN INDUSTRY
Similar plans may exist for reducing the vulnerability of the sugar industry in Jamaica to international competition, but if so, they are not as easily accessible as the roadmap posted on the Mauritius website. As far as restructuring and modernisation of the Jamaican industry are concerned two areas are often mentioned as the focus of attention - cogeneration and ethanol production.
However no information is readily available to indicate how far firm plans for implementation of cogeneration technologies or increased ethanol production have progressed. In the absence of the relevant information a number of questions arise, some of which are outlined below.
Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of electricity and process heat from the same fuel source. 'Process heat' in this sense means steam and/or hot water used in an industrial process such as sugar manufacture. It is currently the most efficient means by which energy in fuel can be converted to electricity.
For the electricity sector as well as the sugar industry it offers the further advantage of utilising a waste product, bagasse, as fuel, instead of imported petroleum. Bagasse is not only cheaper than petroleum, but being a renewable energy source, it also has lower adverse environmental impact. All sugar factories in Jamaica employ bagasse as fuel and use the cogeneration process to generate at least some of the electricity they consume.
However, none of them achieve the high energy conversion efficiencies that are possible with modern technology. None of the factories sell power to the grid, and most need to supplement the bagasse burnt in the boilers with some other fuel, such as oil, in order to satisfy their electricity and heat requirements.
If the cogeneration process is to be more effectively employed in order to increase electricity production, new boilers and generators will be required. It will almost certainly be uneconomic to make that investment without corresponding modernisation of the sugar manufacturing process.
I visited the Frome sugar factory during the grinding season just past. As an engineer, I was initially exhilarated at entering a fascinating museum. But as I began to compare the antiquated mills being driven by gigantic gearwheels with the smooth, efficient hydraulic drives that I had seen in the Mauritian factories, or the large, inefficient shell and tube heat exchangers with the compact plate type Mauritian designs, or the shovel and wheelbarrow transfer of boiler ash with the pneumatic transport systems, or just about any aspect of the production process, I concluded that cogeneration alone cannot achieve the efficiency improvements that the government-owned Jamaican sugar production facilities need. For maximum energy efficiency the cogeneration and sugar production processes must be fine-tuned as a unit.
New boilers, turbines and ancillary equipment would be the minimum investment needed to increase electricity generation and would cost about 45 to 50 per cent of a completely new factory. It would be reasonable therefore to evaluate investment in modernising the sugar processing facilities as well. Only then can the efficiency of sugar production and electricity generation be optimised. Those planning the revitalisation of the industry would do well to heed Christ's injunction not to sew new cloth onto old garments and to include modernisation of the sugar process in their plans, instead of trying to engraft cogeneration technology onto obsolete sugar production equipment.
Modernisation of sugar production technology will not only improve energy efficiency but equipment reliability as well. The investment required is massive, but so also are the losses being experienced with today's sugar production facilities. Financial losses in the publicly owned enterprises have to be covered by the Ministry of Finance, and compete for resources with other critical sectors of the national economy.
See part two in tomorrow's Gleaner.
You may email Winston Hay at winjhay@cwjamaica.com.
