The approximately 1700 sugar workers who were once employed at the Wales Sugar Estate and facing financial hardships have seen the past four months of the COVID-19 pandemic take an even greater toll on their livelihoods in a manner best described as ‘rubbing salt into the wound’.
In addition to these unfortunate workers, 774 private farmers who supplied the estate with sugarcane were also affected. On Tuesday, this newspaper met with some of these previously employed estate workers to find out how they and their families have been coping since the closure of the estate three years ago.