Last week’s column carried a schedule listing the key specifications for the new Skeldon factory. This included those technological developments which experts felt then were necessary to improve factory efficiency and lower unit cost of production. However, both factory and agricultural technological developments must go hand-in-hand, if there is to be overall efficiency, however measured (output per hectare of land; unit of labour, capital or other item).
There is no point in expanding factory capacity, output, or productivity, if there is insufficient cane grown for grinding and conversion into sugar. By similar parity of reasoning, it would be futile to increase output of cane beyond the efficient grinding capacity of available factories. Consequently, factory and agricultural technological improvements need to be applied together in order to raise general industry efficiency, and reduce the unit cost of supplying sugar.
Private cane farming
The Skeldon Sugar Modernization Project (SSMP) has been predicated on nurturing a substantial cadre of private independent cane farmers who would supply cane to the Skeldon factory. In addition to