WHEN the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) formed the Government in 2007, the debt owed by the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) was $15 billion. By the time they got rid of the failing entities the debt had ballooned to $25 billion. Now that the Government is rid of these losing sugar factories, why should the ordinary citizen care about sugar workers?

Dr Peter Phillips said the Government has passed nine consecutive International Monetary Fund (IMF) tests. Audley Shaw insists that the Government has failed the people’s test. The Jamaican Government cannot even — if they want to — buy back these failing sugar factories. The IMF would not agree to it. Which means that with our high employment and the inevitability that thousands of sugar workers will be unemployed must be distressing to the Administration as it readies itself to face the electorate.

This time the sugar industry will not receive any bailout. Seprod’s Golden Grove sugar factory barely missed closure, Everglades’ Long Pond will not be so lucky, J Wray & Nephew’s Appleton Estate is reported to have high losses, and Monymusk is laying off 400 workers due to late spares arrivals. Every sugar factory, except Worthy Park Estate, is experiencing serious losses — even though we all knew as early as five years ago that the price of sugar was coming down gradually. There were no steps taken to do anything other than keep manufacturing sugar. Even the Chinese investors fell into the same trap. Today the price of a tonne of sugar is barely above US$300 and falling. Jamaica’s sugar industry — without guaranteed markets — cannot survive.

As Dr Peter Phillips told supporters of the People’s National Party, put some oil in your lamps, don’t be like the foolish virgins.

Hundreds of us who depend on this industry will undoubtedly lose our jobs — following in the footsteps of the bauxite industry. The main difference is that we in sugar could have diversified, employed cogeneration, developed specialised sugars, derivatives from bagasse, etc, but our leaders in the industry remained fixated on producing a commodity that was becoming uncompetitive.

The social consequences will be deleterious, conditions in areas where sugar cane is grown have always been impoverished. Sugar manufacturing employs mainly unskilled and uneducated people, but with some benefits like housing, free clinics, and social welfare outreach programmes we have managed to just exist below the poverty line. Without this safety net to catch us, there will be hell to pay. If the economy had been growing and producing quality jobs, maybe the sugar industry would’ve collapsed years ago.

Mark Clarke writes from Siloah PO, St Elizabeth. Send comments to the Observer or mark_clarke9@yahoo.com.