FROME, Westmoreland — Even as cane farmers in Westmoreland’s Frome brace for an increase in harvesting costs, indications coming out of the industry are that the price of the sweetener won’t go up.

“As a result of the increase in the cost of fuel and lubricants we are looking at the cost of harvesting a tonne of cane to move from about $850 to about $920 per tonne,” Frome estate’s general manager John Gayle told the Observer West yesterday.

According to Gayle, negotiations are currently underway with stakeholders to finalise the precise level of increase.

An announcement, he added, should be made within the next two weeks.

But the proposed increase, he noted, will have to be borne by the farmers as the increase in harvesting costs will not be passed on to consumers.

At the same time, Gayle said the management of Frome Estate had reached an agreement with cane farmers whereby they would be paid a minimum of $1,200 per tonne in the first payment for their cane.

” What we have agreed to guarantee is that in the interim those persons who earn less than $1,200 per tonne we would advance the difference. So let’s say that a farmer should get $1,100 for his tonne of cane, we would advance him the difference of $100 which would then be deducted from his second payment,” Gayle explained.

Cane farmers are paid in three tranches. The first payment is usually made within a week after the delivery of canes, while the other two payments are made after the end of the cropping season.

The sums paid for canes depend on the quality of the product delivered and is determined by what is commonly known as the JRCS (Jamaica Recovery Cane Sugar). The higher the JCRS the more money farmers will receive for their cane.

Up to early this week farmers were complaining bitterly about the low payments they have been receiving for canes supplied to the Frome Sugar factory.

Some say they were receiving between $700 and $850 for a tonne of cane, which they noted could not cover their harvesting costs.

The low payments, Gayle said, were due to the poor weather conditions in the sugar cane-growing areas. Yesterday he told the Observer West that over the past week the weather had improved and this, he said, had resulted in an improvement in payments to farmers.

The low payments, Gayle said, were due to the poor weather conditions in the sugar cane-growing areas. Yesterday he told the Observer West that over the past week the weather had improved and this, he said, had resulted in an improvement in payments to farmers.

So far, the Frome sugar factory has manufactured just under 9,300 tonnes of sugar since the 2009/2010 crop began in early December.