FROME, Westmoreland– An incentive programme for sugar workers based on productivity, as well as a $430 million refurbishing exercise at the Frome sugar factory, has left local sugar industry players upbeat about the prospects of the 2009/2010 sugar crop at Frome, which began last week Friday– three days ahead of schedule.

Describing the incentive programme at the state -run estate as “unprecedented and unusual”, Aubyn Hill, chairman of the Sugar Company of Jamaica Holdings, said the incentive package being offered to the workers will help to boost production.

“If the cane cutters, for example, and the management meet their targets, they will get an incentive, and if that target is exceeded, they will get a further incentive, so the more they produce the more money they will get,” explained Hill, who was on a tour Wednesday of the vast estate with a slew of sugar industry stakeholders, including agriculture minister Dr Christopher Tufton.

According to the chairman, the sugar workers are already aware of the attractive package, which he said is “transparent and is based purely on imperial and measured performance”.

The cane cutters, he added, will get their incentives fortnightly, middle managers monthly, while senior managers will receive theirs at the end of the crop.

This season, the management of Frome has set a target of 42,000 tonnes of sugar from the crushing of roughly 481,000 tonnes of canes.

Last crop, which was plagued by a number of illicit cane fires, the factory produced 37,000 tonnes of the sweetener.

Up to 6:00 am on Friday, Frome, the island’s largest sugar processing plant, had produced 1,002 tonnes of sugar from 13,900 tonnes of cane.

On Wednesday, Dr Tufton who toured the factory and spoke with more than 50 cane cutters, told reporters that he was very impressed with the operations at the estate.

“Based on what I saw, I am very pleased; I think the motivation level is very high; the cutters in the fields are working, the factory workers and the managers also. I really think that they understand the importance of making the crop a success. And I am very confident that we will be able to meet the target that we have set,” the agriculture minister said.

But chairman of the All Island Sugar Cane Growers Association, Allan Rickards, said while he was not excited about the targeted sugar production at Frome for this crop, he was pleased that a significant amount of money was spent to repair the sugar processing plant.

“Frome (sugar factory) has a capacity to produce 100,000 tonnes of sugar, so when you project 41,000 tonnes, you don’t expect me to get excited. What I will get excited about is that the factory has been repaired better than it has in many a years, and that it (crop) did start early– that is what I am excited about,” Rickards argued.

He added that he was also impressed with the morale and commitment of the sugar workers and the significant decline in the number of illicit cane fires in the area.

In recent years, Frome, which earns more than $2 billion annually from its operations, has been plagued by illicit cane fires.

Last crop alone, the estate lost close to $500 million as a result of such fires.

But since this year the number of canes affected by the illicit burning of canes has been at a record low, according to Frome’s general manager John Gayle.

He noted that a number of initiatives which include joint military/ police patrols; additional fire fighting equipment; text messaging alert system; and a monitoring system organised by cane farmers and contractors have been rolled out and are now reaping success.