New sugar won’t rely on labour

MECHANISATION of the sugar industry under the Chinese, which recently acquired the bulk of Governmentowned sugar factories up for divestment, will likely phase out the need for sugar cane-cutters.

Chinese company Complant International a few weeks ago acquired the last three state-owned properties — Frome, Monymusk and Bernard Lodge —up for grabs at a cost of $774 million. The Asian company is expected to invest millions of dollars in the development of the factories to become more costeffecient, which includes mechanisation.

Looming ahead against this background, many feel, is the gradual extinction of cane cutters, a working class that has been a primary feature on cane fields since colonial times.

“I don’t believe that you’re going to see a huge expansion into the canecutting labourer class because they’re going to have to mechanise,” acknowledged Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) CEO Aubyn Hill at the recent Monday Exchange meeting of Observer reporters and editors at the newspaper's head office in Kingston.

But chairman of the All-Island Jamaica Cane Farmers Association (AIJCFA), Allan Rickards, said that sugar cane cutters have been a “dwindling breed” for a long time now and save as one of the reasons for the drive towards mechanisation.

“It’s a dwindling group because they’re getting older and not being replaced with younger cutters because younger men are not going to do a job that requires them to bend and swing a machete,” noted Rickards, highlighting that the common argument coming from the detractors is that cutting cane reminds them of the “undignified” times of slavery.

“The fact of the matter is that we have known for a long time that every year it’s more difficult to get cane cutters and there is a tussle between the estates and the private farmers as to who can attract the cutters,” said Rickards, who was unable at the time to state the number of cane cutters on the island.

“We have known for a long time that there is a problem in terms of manual cutting and this is why there has been a drive on to introduce mechanisation in terms of harvesting,” added the AIJCFA boss.

Rickards said, however, that he believes that manual cutting is the best way to cut cane in terms of quality.

“We know that in future that they would not be able to rely on the traditional cutting, but I will tell you it is still the best way of cutting cane because they cut cleaner and the machines destroy the root sometimes and cause other damage,” he said.

SCJ CEO Hill said that while there will be a fallout in the need for manual cutters because of mechanisation, the need for skilled workers in the sugar industry will multiply.

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