Sunday, November 21, 2010

PM to waste million dollars in Belize?

Word was this past week, that the Prime Minister was going to help out the cane farmers with a million dollars of tax revenues. Even if it was a loan, I sure hope it is not a true rumor.
The reasoning is this: the cane farmers are unprofitable the way they currently grow and harvest cane. 85% of them should be farming something else. They are unprofitable and unable, or unwilling to change. You can´t change human nature by offering them a crutch. A million dollars of tax revenues is just a drop in the bucket and might secure some votes, but would be a detriment to the cane growers. No matter how they cry. There comes a time, you must cut the apron strings, take away the government crutch from people that will not help themselves.
There is no fear the sugar industry would be destroyed. It only takes 15% of the cane farmers who do produce cane properly, to equal the current crop size in quantity and quality, if they take the advice of the experts from other countries, it is said.
Some people shouldn´t be fishing, or growing sugar cane. It is plain and simple. Human nature says, we should let the sugar industry consolidate and find which are the better players. If PM BARROW wants to help, it would be in the form of an alternative market with another export crop. Such crops exist, just search. That is what the internet is for.
The 15% or 20% left would do a much better job if they modernize technically. Helping losers only delays the agony and probably will carry down the good growers unnecessarily. If the PM wants to help the cane farmers, there are a couple of thousand of them that need to be growing something else. THEY SURE CAN´T GROW CANE PROFITABLY. The remaining growers who adapt, need to form a company, not an association. Then they could raise capital by selling shares in their business. Then we trade the shares on the Belize Stock Exchange. This borrowing money has to stop.

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