Sugar decline, ascent in scamming, crime

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE SURGE in crime in Westmoreland is being blamed on the economic fallout from the decline in sugar production in the parish, a position firmly held by stakeholders who believe that Government has failed to facilitate the development of alternative industries for those dependent on the Frome Sugar Estate to survive.

The facility, owned by Pan Caribbean Sugar Company (PCSC), has never been able to return to the production levels of earlier years.

It earned more than $2.5 billion from its operations and pumped an estimated $35 million per week into the economy of feeder communities Grange Hill, Savanna-la-Mar, Bull Savannah, Trollo, Kendal, Grange, Townhead, Sterling, Banbury and Delveland.

In its heyday, the factory employed nearly 3,000 persons during the season, a similar number to those working on the private properties of some 1,700 farmers. Another 45,000 people are believed to be indirectly employed, through economic activities spawned by the Frome sugar operations.

“The decline of sugar has affected the economy of Westmoreland in a really big way,” Moses Chybar, president of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce, told The Sunday Gleaner.

“A lot of jobs would have been created at various levels, starting from the farmers, the casual workers out there in the field all the way up to the skilled labour in the factory,” Chybar noted. “But we have lost most of that, which, in itself, has put a big dent in the economic activity and the amount of money in circulation.”

The factory stands in the centre of Frome, a one-street village with houses lining both sides.

The journey through the hills along the winding roadway towards the factory takes travellers through acres of canefields, bypassing communities whose residents depend largely on the continued production of the sweetener by the Chinese government-owned PCSC, which has pumped billions into retrofitting the facility since it took over its ownership in 2010.

Their efforts, however, have been affected by myriad issues, including loss of millions to the illicit burning of canefields, alleged inequity in a suspect payment system and the failure to attract young talent to the sector.

“Is crime supporting the economy now because sugar is dead,” Kent, a small cane farmer, told The Sunday Gleaner, in Grange Hill. “When sugar was thriving, there was more peace among each other, but farming was not attractive to the young people; scamming is their preferred way of earning.”

His partner, Cashmere Campbell, added: “This place born out of sugar. Is only sugar we know 'bout, so with sugar next to dead, is scamming and guns and killing running the place.”

Some locals told The Sunday Gleaner that they resorted to backyard farming and poultry rearing, but the economies of scale have not worked.

“It's very difficult for us to live off raising 100 chickens, one or two pigs, then have someone steal them, sending you back to square one,” said a former cane-cutter in Church Lincoln, a settlement in Grange Hill, who did not want her name published.

Chevaugn Stewart, a 40-year-old who, along with his wife Asharie, operates Right Stuff Jerk and More at Burnt Savannah, recalls his venture into the sector, after inheriting his late father's cane farm. However, Stewart said he was forced to pull out after one year because the return on investment was not financially attractive.

“Your operation cost is far more than what you get in return after selling it to the factory,” said Stewart. “You actually get less money than you invest, so there was no way it could work out.

“Maybe if I was getting a large cane farmer, because the profit margin would be greater, but after careful analysis, I just had to cut my losses,” he added.

SUGAR TAKING FINAL BREATH

His position is somewhat reflective of the difficulties faced by Karl 'Cass' Salabie, a 70-year-old cane farmer in Burnt Savannah who, along with his brother, Michael, 62, sold between 18-20,000 tons of cane to Frome in the good times, but are now struggling to offload 500 tons.

The cost to operate has also been a struggle for Salabie.

“If we manage to sell 500 tonnes, we would have sold a lot,” he said. “We used to have a combined 130 workers. Right now, you can't get anybody to work … . We don't even have a dozen.

“What we have to be doing now is raising a few heads of cows to replace and cushion the losses from the death of the industry.”

The brothers inherited the business from their father, who also grew rice and reared cattle, but they are convinced that sugar is now taking its final breath, and crime will continue its upward trajectory.

“Losing on your investment in sugar is bad, but the current wave of crime is even worse and more unbearable,” Michael Salabie argued. “Crime is large because scamming has taken over and is now the main thing in Westmoreland.

“By the time they make two phone calls, they can go and collect cash and drive the best brand vehicles and they have never worked,” he said. “So sugar will never be attractive.”

Many argue that the decline of the sugar industry has been ongoing, mainly through mismanagement and corruption. And with no emerging industry to replace those jobs, the void was consumed by lawlessness.

“We are at rock bottom,” Chybar insists. “I don't condone any wrongdoings. I don't support stealing, killing, or anything of the sort, but we have failed our next generation.”

Chybar argued that successive governments have failed to get a grasp of the real challenges being experienced by locals.

“Sugar is dying and there is no alternative industry in place,” he remarked.

STILL HOPE

Nevertheless, Chybar said there is still hope to boost the economy and restore some semblance of order in the parish by developing downtown Savanna-la-Mar.

“That area needs to be developed in such a way that it is more than just a fruits and vegetable market and it becomes a market with a diverse range of products to include arts, craft and we would now be able to attract tourists and other business initiatives.”

While agreeing with the Chamber of Commerce boss that an infrastructural upgrade of the downtown business district will be beneficial, George Wright, member of parliament for Central Westmoreland, where the parish capital is located, hopes that a truce can be broken between the warring factions responsible for 128 murders in 2021, an increase by 60 per cent over the 80 homicides the previous year.

“The biggest problem that we are facing now is unemployment, as our main driver of the economy of the parish was sugar cane, and sugar cane is now close to zero. In other words, those persons who usually depend on the industry to take home food for their children are now home sitting down, with no skill, so they turn to scamming,” said Wright. “A lot of them are using the money to buy gun and what we see now are ongoing reprisals.

“What we must do is engage these youngsters, especially these gangsters, and if we can get them to buy into the idea of getting a skill and then create job opportunities for them, crime will reduce in the parish,” Wright reasoned.

“If we can get the feuding groups to sit down and bring this long-standing issue to an end, we will make a huge inroad in the crime problem, but in the meantime, we need to also use more technology to fight crime. We need drones, sniffer dogs and metal detectors.”

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com