THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party said it had been known for a number of years that significant cuts in sugar prices were coming, yet the government did little to restructure the industry and prepare it for the challenges.

The party, in a statement following its shadow cabinet meeting late Tuesday, said that while production levels have fallen, costs for producing the product have risen.

The JLP added that the declining levels of sugar production was a far larger crisis facing the industry.

“.The government is doing little to prepare the industry for the challenges that will come with the price cuts,” the party said.

Meanwhile, chairman of the All-Island Cane Farmers’ Association Allan Rickards said yesterday’s announcement of a 39 per cent cut in the price paid for sugar produced by African, Caribbean and Pacific states was “not an end, but rather a beginning”.

Said Rickards: “It is certainly not a decision but what it means is that we can begin formal discussions (on the matter),” he told the Observer.

Rickards, however, raised concerns about the pace at which plans necessary to counter the effects of the price cuts were progressing.

“We are dissatisfied with the pace at which we have been making the necessary changes to put ourselves in a position to deal with the change,” he said. “These are common sense decisions that ought to have been taken.”