FROME, Westmoreland – In apparent desperation, the Government says it will, this week, unleash the army and the police on arsonists who are being blamed for $350 million worth of illicit cane fires in the Westmoreland sugar belt last year.

The move was immediately embraced by the sugar industry, frustrated that illegal cane fires had continued to extract heavy losses and worried that they could get worse this year.

“We are going to do some monitoring, the army and the police will help patrol the cane fields and we will even be doing some aerial surveillance as soon as next (this) week,” said Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke, himself showing signs of frustration.

“We have been in discussions with the Ministry of National Security and the chief of staff of the Jamaica Defence Force and we are working out a strategy to deal with it,” Clarke told the Sunday Observer after animated discussions about the problem.

Welcoming Clarke’s announcement yesterday, All-Island Jamaica Cane farmers president Allan Rickards said: “We support and welcome it, and we believe it will work. It was tried some years ago and it worked very well.”

Arsonists, often aided by a brisk breeze off the Westmoreland coast, frequently set cane fields ablaze, defying attempts by officials to contain the number of fires.

Two years ago, the state-run Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) offered a reward of $225,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons responsible for the illegal burning of cane on the Frome estate, Jamaica’s largest.

Additionally, an education programme was tailor-made to sensitise residents in the sugar belts about the negative effect of illicit cane fires on the industry.

But these initiatives, stakeholders have argued, have not borne fruit.

In that same period, there have been more than 1,500 illicit cane fires in Westmoreland, resulting in the loss of just over 400,000 tonnes of cane.

During the 2005/2006 crop alone, illicit cane fires in the area resulted in an estimated loss of $350 million.

But based on existing trends, losses in the sector could be even greater this year if the illicit burning is not curtailed, officials said.

Since the start of the present crop last December, cane fires in Westmoreland have jumped more than 100 per cent, compared with the corresponding period in the previous year.

Between December 7, 2006 and January 19, 2007, more than 35,000 tonnes of cane was affected by 130 illicit fires, against just over 17,000 tonnes for the corresponding period the previous year, already twice the number. Those losses have been put at $40 million.

Clarke argued that there was “no logical reason” for persons to be involved in the illegal practice and stressed that the act would have to be stopped.

That job has now been given to the army and the police.

President and CEO of the state-run Sugar Company of Jamaica, Dr Richard Harrison, said he was confident the planned measure would be a deterrent to the arsonists.

“It will help. It will not eliminate all of the illegal fires, but it will provide some form of deterrent,” said Harrison. “It will certainly result in a reduction of these fires.”

cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com