Barbados' Sugar Industry Transition Underway as Minister Supports Worker Ownership, Sustainable Energy Focus

The transition of the management of Barbados’ sugar industry is going according to plan, says Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir.

While declining to comment directly on the reported Barbados Sustainable Energy Co-operative Society Limited (Co-op Energy) takeover of the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC), Weir said sugar workers owning a major stake in the industry had always been in the works.

“I can’t speak to any details on the industry until it goes to Cabinet. So it would be premature of me to speak about it at this time, but things are going the way I always intended for it to go – to be owned by Barbadians,” he said on Friday.

On Thursday, Barbados TODAY published an article in which Co-op Energy president Retired Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Browne revealed that by the end of this year, his organisation should take over the operations of the state agency that currently oversees the management, production and sale of sugar.

He said it planned to invest more than $100 million to transform the sector into an energy industry, and past and present sugar workers would own 45 per cent of the shares of the two entities that will be established to run the sector – the Agricultural Business Company (ABC) which will manage the 5 000 acres of land that belonged to the BAMC and the Barbados Energy and Sugar Company (BESCO) which will manage the energy plant.

Weir said he had always envisioned ordinary Barbadians becoming the new owners of the industry.

“I spoke to this many times before. So, as you know, I would have indicated prior that when I’m finished with the transition of the sugar industry in Barbados, it is going to be owned by the workers – those who work in the field and their families, and those who work at the factory and their families – and the public of Barbados will also be able to purchase shares. This was always the plan,” he told Barbados TODAY.

“I also stated that what we are going to have is a cane energy industry and the proposal is before the Cabinet for the team and I to present.”

Efforts to reach the chairman of the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited Mark Sealy for comment on the development were unsuccessful.

(SZB)