Long Pond Sugar Factory to close next year

Agriculture Minister, Karl Samuda, says the Long Pond Sugar Factory in Trelawny will not reopen next year.

The government took over operations at Long Pond in March after the factory’s owners indicated that they were not able to keep it open.

The intervention was to last for three months but was extended to October.

Speaking at the opening session of the 79th Annual Conference of the Jamaica Association of Sugar Technologists in Ocho Rios, St. Ann yesterday, Samuda said the government would no longer operate the factory.

He noted that while the government will not reopen the factory, arrangements have been put in place to transport the cane to another factory for processing.

The agriculture minister said the government is to spend $50 million to truck the remaining 50,000 tonnes of cane in the fields surrounding the factory to the Worthy Park Estate in St Catherine.

Samuda noted that the plan to truck cane to Worthy Park ensures that no farmer will suffer as a result of the factory being closed next year.