Prime Minister Andrew Holness says he is convinced that sugar can survive, but only with effective management of the industry’s culture, money and technology.

And that, according to him, is what government’s involvement in the industry is to ensure — effective management in the short term.

The prime minister, who was delivering the main address at the official reopening of Monymusk Sugar Factory in Clarendon on Friday, described Government’s move to temporarily run the entity as “strategic”, even as he invited the private sector to look at the “economic opportunity” that is sugar.

“There is an economic opportunity here… and (an opportunity) to help with the management and production of the cane itself,” the prime minister said.

He called for dialogue with stakeholders to end cultural practices such as burning cane, which caused losses of more than 40 tonnes of in areas around Monymusk, recently.

That kind of activity, Holness said, is as devastating to the industry as a fall in the price of sugar.

Last July the Government, through the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) Holdings, entered into an interim agreement to operate the Monymusk factory to save thousands of jobs in St Catherine and Clarendon after its owners, Pan Caribbean Sugar Company, indicated that they were not able to keep it open.

“In the next phase of our management intervention we will continue, as best as possible, to support the capital development, but the long term is not for the Government to operate this plant,” he said.

Holness, who toured the factory with managers and workers, said it is clear to him that the skill sets to ensure the viability of the enterprise do exist at the facility, and stressed that the Government will do its part to make sure that it is successful.

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Karl Samuda also addressed the ceremony. He thanked investors and workers in the sector who play their part to keep the industry going.