Sugar arrangement in limbo

Three years after signing historic agreements with the government to take over the management of the struggling sugar industry as a private operation, the cooperative involved said on Saturday it may no longer be running the centuries-old sector following a recent collapse in dispute mediation talks, Barbados TODAY can report.

Chairman of the Barbados Sustainable Energy Cooperative Society (CoopEnergy) Lt Col Trevor Browne said on Saturday that the government has now abandoned the agreements signed in December 2023.

Those agreements transferred management of the state‑owned Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) to CoopEnergy and formed two private companies – Barbados Energy and Sugar Company (BESCO) Ltd. to manage the factory and Agricultural Business Company (ABC) Ltd to oversee 4 500 acres of farmland.