Barbadian minister highlights the need to move up stream
31 January 2005
On January 17th 2005 the minister of agriculture and rural development in Barbados claimed that the island's sugar industry is not dead but that 'what is dead is producing to sell as bulk sugar to the UK'. The minister called for 'the production of branded sugar for the domestic market' and spoke of the scope for exporting such branded sugar. 'Seven thousand tonnes of branded sugar will give us as much revenue as we now get selling 33,000 to 35,000 tonnes of bulk sugar to the UK'. If this can be achieved alongside the opening up of revenue streams from ethanol production, electricity generation and sale of molasses, then the sugar industry could still have a future according to the minister.
Editorial comment
A major problem faced in moving up-stream in the sugar sector in ACP economies is the availability of investment funds, for, with the impending changes on the EU market, commercial financial institutions are unwilling to extend long-term financing to the sector. This is a reality which the EC will need to address if funds are to be mobilised to support the development of more diversified and structurally integrated sugar sectors in ACP countries.