I was dismayed when I first heard about the recent sugar tax proposals to address the UK’s obesity crisis. After the government backed EU trade policies the market has been flooded with cheap sugar, at the expense of thousands of farmers like me. If it wasn’t so desperate for sugar farmers across African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, it would be comical. But the reality is, on the anniversary of Fairtrade’s Sugar Crash report, falling sugar prices are pushing farmers into poverty, and with caps on EU beet sugar production - which is currently subsidised - being lifted in 2017, the future looks even bleaker.
Sugar production has been entwined with Jamaica’s history since we became a leading exporter of sugar under British rule and made Europeans rich on the profits of the slave plantations. Nowadays, around 200,000 Jamaicans work on their own plot of land or on company owned estates and our livelihoods are dependent on the industry.
I didn’t even want to be a sugar cane farmer when I was young. I hardly ever saw my father when I was growing up because he worked so hard to earn a measly wage but then one day I went with him to a meeting and learned of the Worthy Park Cane Farmers Association’s plans to become Fairtrade Certified. I was sold on their mission to give farmers a better deal. I soon registered as a cane farmer and began reaping the rewards of selling under Fairtrade terms. I felt proud that after decades of being paid unfairly, 4,500 Jamaican farmers became empowered by selling under Fairtrade terms. It changed my life for the better. For every tonne of sugar sold, our organisations received $60 (£42) in Premium to invest in social and business projects. Our community benefited from free healthcare and education.
But now the market price of sugar in the EU is around 30% lower than it was in 2006 and subsequently, cheaper packets of sugar on your supermarket shelves means farmers like me have less money to live. Now, I fear everything we have achieved as an association will be lost as we are squeezed out of the markets. When the quota caps are lifted on beet sugar we just won’t be able to compete with richer countries in Europe.
Since my interview with The Guardian last year, I hoped to have been able to report some kind of miracle but the truth is that fear has replaced hope in the hearts and minds of our farmers; fear of not being able to provide for our families, fear of diminishing payments, fear of being plunged into debt as our production costs rise and fear of never again seeing market prices increase for cane.
Poverty is our greatest fear and one which is quickly becoming reality. Worthy Park has been working closely with Fairtrade’s liaison officer to introduce projects that can either sustain Premium funds or alleviate severe levels of poverty for the community in other ways. In addition to this, this week we begin a biodiversity research project to determine other areas of crop production within the association’s borders. Operations are slower this year. We have lost JMD$20m (£114,962)in Fairtrade Premium payments, however we have not been deterred and we will tread on.
But it is not so good for other sugar cane farms in Jamaica. On the other side of the island, The Long Pond Sugar Factory closed operations last year. As a result, farmers need to find a new factory which will process their cane, and only a few farmers are eligible for transport subsidies. Farmers could face losing payment if the sucrose content falls due to delays. For those who cannot arrange transport at all, prospects are even more dismal.
Based on the current situation I predict there will be a significant number of farmers who will cease cane production totally but most say their intent is to “survive while sugar is down, and restart when it comes back up”.
“So I don’t understand why people are arguing about taxing sugar to tackle obesity in the UK whilst on the other side of the world thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on cane farming will struggle to survive when these changes come into force next year.
And surely anything in abundance is bad for one’s health? Why isn’t there more focus on healthy diets? I think we all have a responsibility to eat healthily and ensure our children do too, but why is sugar suddenly the enemy? And if it is, this influx of cheap sugar in the EU isn’t helping improve matters, it is bad news for consumers in the UK as well as small-scale Jamaican farmers. But for people who are capable of moderating their sugar intake and do want to continue to have a sweet treat every now and then, I urge shoppers in the UK to buy Fairtrade and help farmers like me.
I really appreciate the solidarity thousands of people across the UK showed farmers when they signed up to Fairtrade Foundation’s Show Your Hand campaign in 2015 to condemn the EU cap reforms. I hope this shows more businesses that there is appetite amongst consumers and retailers for Fairtrade sugar.
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