Although some Caribbean states went out of cane production many years ago, for the most part, the industry has flourished and sugar has remained the English-speaking Caribbean’s premier export crop bouyed by high prices and preferential trading arrangements first with the United Kingdom and then with the European community.
More recently, some sugar industries in the Caribbean have proved unviable as much larger global producers such as Brazil and Australia have begun to export and world marketing prices have declined. In response, in some of the region’s economies newer industries such as tourism have enabled Caribbean economies to diversify.
Despite this, sugar still plays a key role. In Jamaica, as many as 200,000 people (about 8% of the Jamaican population of 2.6 million) derive their livelihood directly or indirectly from the sugar industry. Sugar cane is grown in almost every single parish and nearly half of the land under permanent agricultural crops is in sugar cane. The industry also makes a vital contribution to Jamaica’s foreign exchange earnings bringing in excess of US$100 million each year in foreign exchange. Beyond this, sugar plays a significant role in maintainging rural enviroment. The planting of cane protects the soil from erosion and creates a habitat in which a wide range of Jamaican fauna is able to flourish.
Now much of this has to change. The decision by Europe to cut its preferential price over a three-year period as a result of a world trade organization ruling has led industries across the region to review their viability. Some such as St. Kitts have decided to move out of the production of raw sugar for export altogether. Others like Barbados are looking at adding value to their small industries through marketing of organic and branded speciality sugars.
Achieving the economies of scale that this transition requieres will be far from easy. It will require all the European support that has been promised and more. It will involve a significant investment in the modernization of the industry as well as the retraining of some personnel to enable them to migrate to other forms of agriculture or to the region’s fast expanding tourism sector.
Its fairly complex and will test the students, but its not overly hard and will encourage them to push their boundaries.
February 11th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Its fairly complex and will test the students, but its not overly hard and will encourage them to push their boundaries.
References :