Jamaica to retain sugar cane fields.(JAMAICA)

0 Comments | Caribbean Update, February, 2008

Jamaica does not plan to sell cane fields when it privatizes its struggling state-owned sugar company in 2008, said Agriculture Minister Christopher Tupton, reports AP (Dec. 26, 2007). Only processing plants will be sold to one of six companies bidding for the Sugar Co. of Jamaica, which is cash-strapped after years of amassing debt.

"We are not selling the precious lands that are used to cultivate sugarcane, we are selling the factories," Tufton said. The state-owned company consists of six estates that produce most of Jamaica's sugar exports.