Carib Scope

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  • Elmer Nah Waits One More Day To Learn Fate

    Elmer Nah Waits One More Day To Learn Fate

    On June 18, 2026, families of the three murdered Ramnarace family members entered Belize’s High Court in Belmopan anticipating a final resolution to a case that has stretched for nearly four years. Instead, they left the grieving process on pause, after Justice Nigel Pilgrim delayed the sentencing of former police corporal Elmer Nah to the following morning.

    Nah was found guilty by a jury on May 29 this year for one of the most brutal acts of violence Belmopan has seen in recent years: a premeditated New Year’s Eve 2022 shooting inside the Ramnarace family home that left Jon, David, and Vivian Ramnarace dead. Yenie Alberto, the fourth target, survived the attempted murder, leaving her to carry lifelong trauma from the attack.

    Emotion hung heavy in the courtroom as Vashti Belisle, speaking on behalf of the victim’s family, delivered a raw, 30-minute victim impact statement that detailed the irreparable hole left by the killings. Belisle recalled Vivian Ramnarace — a loving mother and dedicated public servant — and shared a chilling final memory from the night of the attack: a frantic emergency call from Vivian begging for help, with the plea “We just got shot up. Come for the baby.” The revelation left the courtroom gripped by the violence that shattered the quiet community.

    Prosecutors pushed aggressively for a life sentence, outlining multiple aggravating factors that warrant the harshest possible punishment. They noted the attack targeted multiple people, was carried out brazenly inside a private family home, and left a young child who witnessed the killings with permanent psychological harm. Justice Pilgrim echoed the severity of these details, adding that one victim was a serving public servant and that court evidence clearly indicates the murders were planned in advance, not a spontaneous act of violence.

    In contrast, Nah’s defense team, led by attorney Dr. Lynden Jones, argued for leniency, asking the court to weigh Nah’s decades of prior service as a law enforcement officer, his clean criminal record before the 2022 attack, and the potential for rehabilitation. Nah himself did not address the court, and no witnesses were called to testify in his support. When pressed for comment by reporter Shane Williams of News Five, Nah offered only a brief, cryptic line in Kriol: “Noh watch me fall. Watch me rise.”

    After closing arguments from both legal teams, Justice Pilgrim announced he needed additional time to carefully review all submissions and evidence before handing down a ruling that will determine whether Nah spends the rest of his life in prison. The sentencing hearing is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. on June 19, 2026, leaving the Ramnarace family to wait one more day for the closure they have long sought.

  • LIU Continues Despite Controversial Employment Program Pause

    LIU Continues Despite Controversial Employment Program Pause

    Weeks after a controversial pause to one employment component of Belize’s flagship Leadership Intervention Unit (LIU), senior government officials are moving to clarify the program’s status, reassuring the public that core community-focused work continues while ongoing fiscal audits are completed.

    In an on-site interview Wednesday in Belmopan, Minister of Home Affairs Oscar Mira pushed back against widespread speculation that the entire LIU initiative had been shuttered, calling for public patience as the government reviews the paused employment segment. Mira emphasized that the temporary hold was implemented solely to uphold fiscal responsibility for public funds.

    “Only one part of the broader work program has been paused for review,” Mira clarified. “The entire LIU has not stopped operations. A wide range of core initiatives are still active and delivering results across the country right now. Our only goal with this review is to ensure every dollar of taxpayer money is spent correctly, and that every investment we make delivers the tangible outcomes Belizeans deserve. That is all that has taken place – the program remains active, interventions are still in place, and much of LIU’s work continues unchanged.”

    The temporary pause of the employment segment has left many residents wondering what parts of the LIU are still operating, a question reporters put to Andrew Dawson, the acting director of the unit, earlier this week. Dawson confirmed that operations have not halted, and the agency is instead using the pause as an opportunity to restructure and realign its priorities with the government’s broader vision, particularly for high-need vulnerable communities.

    Dawson outlined the range of active LIU initiatives still running: “Right now, LIU continues all its core efforts. While the beautification program was the component that was paused, our partnerships with local vocational training institutions remain fully operational. We still run our popular community sports programs, and our community council network – which includes local representatives running small-scale, hyper-local programs across underserved neighborhoods – is still active. We are in a restructuring phase right now: I am in ongoing discussions with the minister and the ministry to align our work with their strategic vision, and integrate those priorities into LIU to strengthen our impact moving forward. There is critical work to be done across the country’s most vulnerable communities, and we cannot afford to slow down. We have to keep pushing forward and deliver this work collectively.”

    As of June 18, 2026, weeks after the employment segment was first put on pause, the government has not yet issued a clear timeline for when the review will conclude, nor has it confirmed whether the employment program will eventually be restarted in its original form or revised as part of the LIU’s restructuring. This report is a transcript of a televised evening newscast, with all Kriol-language remarks transcribed using a standardized spelling system for accuracy.

  • FLASH Sunrise Airways : Win 2 round-trip plane tickets

    FLASH Sunrise Airways : Win 2 round-trip plane tickets

    Ahead of the 2026 World Music Day celebrations, Haiti-based carrier Sunrise Airways has announced an exciting collaborative campaign with independent Caribbean music platform Encuentro, blending regional cultural celebration with a once-in-a-lifetime travel giveaway that runs from June 21 through June 25. The extended five-day event is built around the shared “One Caribbean” vision of both organizations, which seeks to connect the diverse islands, cultures and creative communities that make up the Caribbean region through the universal language of music.

    Every passenger traveling with Sunrise Airways during the campaign period will receive their boarding pass inside a custom branded envelope that doubles as an entry point for the giveaway. Inside each envelope, a scannable QR code directs users to a dedicated campaign landing page. On this page, visitors can stream a hand-curated playlist of regional music assembled by Encuentro, which blends iconic rhythms from across the Caribbean to showcase the area’s rich cultural diversity. Passengers can also enter the prize draw using their existing booking number for a chance to win the top prize: two round-trip tickets to any of the airline’s direct destinations.

    Philippe Bayard, president of Sunrise Airways and a self-described passionate music enthusiast, highlighted the deeper purpose behind the partnership. “For World Music Day, we wanted to offer our passengers a unique experience, at the crossroads of travel and Caribbean sounds,” Bayard explained. “This collaboration with Encuentro concretely illustrates our One Caribbean vision, the one that connects the islands and cultures of the region.”

    Encuentro, the Miami-based independent cultural and artistic platform leading the music curation for the campaign, works to amplify underrepresented Caribbean musical talent. Currently, the label brings together musicians and sonic traditions from Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with long-term plans to expand its roster to include artists from across the entire Caribbean. Drawing inspiration from the long-held cultural traditions and vibrant, diverse colors of the region, Encuentro’s core mission is to share Caribbean music with global audiences beyond the geographic boundaries of the Caribbean itself. The project has received ongoing support from Sunrise Airways, which already operates regular air connections between the home countries of many of the label’s featured artists, making cross-regional collaboration and cultural exchange easier than ever.

    Listeners can access the full Encuentro Caribbean playlist via the platform’s official website at https://encuentromusic.com, and travelers can explore all available destinations from Sunrise Airways to plan their potential prize trip at https://sunriseairways.net.

  • Khalid Belisle Calls Out Mira Family’s Alleged Belmopan Land Grab

    Khalid Belisle Calls Out Mira Family’s Alleged Belmopan Land Grab

    A new controversy has erupted in Belmopan as of June 18, 2026, centered on allegations that the family of local Area Representative Oscar Mira has taken control of a substantial plot of public land marked for industrial development on the city’s outskirts. Khalid Belisle, a former mayor of Belmopan and current United Democratic Party (UDP) caretaker for the area, has publicly raised alarm over the questionable transfer of more than 31 acres of prime land in the far eastern edge of Belmopan, a parcel that abuts the city boundary near the capital’s new public cemetery.

    According to Belisle, the plot in question was originally zoned exclusively for industrial projects, a status that made the sudden transfer of ownership to Mira’s close relatives, and potentially Mira himself, all the more unusual. Compounding public frustration over the deal, Belisle notes that widespread complaints have circulated across social media for months from ordinary Belizean residents claiming that no public land is still available for distribution to general applicants in Belmopan.

    “If there is truly no more public land left to allocate to everyday residents, then the public deserves an explanation as to why members of the area representative’s inner circle were able to secure these 31 acres before other applicants who have waited in line for years,” Belisle argued in comments during a televised evening newscast. He stopped short of making an outright allegation of illegal activity, but emphasized that the situation carries poor public optics that demand a full, independent investigation.

    Belisle also expressed support for opposition leader and UDP party head Tracy Taegar Panton, who has already filed a formal Freedom of Information Act request to obtain full documentation of the land transfers, laying out the history of the parcel’s reclassification and change in ownership. “I am not rushing to pass judgment before all the facts come to light,” Belisle said, echoing the assessment shared by the current Chief Executive Officer of Belize’s Ministry of Defense: the appearance of the deal is far from what the public should accept from elected officials. “We are waiting for the full story to be released, and until then, the public has every right to ask tough questions about how this public resource was handled.”

  • Mayor Wally Lashes Opposition for Desperate Allegations

    Mayor Wally Lashes Opposition for Desperate Allegations

    On a scheduled Wednesday in San Pedro, a highly anticipated opposition press conference, which had been marketed to deliver damning revelations from a San Pedro Town Council financial audit, failed to go forward after opposition leaders abruptly pulled the plug on the event. The last-minute cancellation has sparked sharp pushback from sitting Mayor Wally Nuñez, who is accusing the political opposition of intentional misrepresentation of public financial documents to manufacture a political scandal.

    According to Nuñez, the statistics the opposition had been circulating in advance of the press conference do not originate from a completed official audit of municipal spending, as the group claimed. Instead, the numbers are pulled from a draft budget prospectus that only lays out proposed future expenditures for the town, not verified accounting of past spending.

    Nuñez argued that the opposition’s misrepresentation of the document stems from one of two deliberate goals: either the opposition intentionally twisted the text of the prospectus to gain partisan advantage ahead of upcoming political discourse, or they failed to correctly interpret a standard public financial document. In on-the-record comments following the cancellation, Nuñez called the opposition’s missteps deeply disappointing, noting that the group had incorrectly misidentified proposed line items to falsely implicate his office in improper spending.

    “It is quite disappointing to see that the opponent probably don’t know their arm from their elbow,” Nuñez stated in his remarks. “When you see these things what they have posted is of perspectives. It is not the financial audit. I know that they have been trying very hard to try to pin something on me personally. If you realize they have highlighted there the office of the mayor. And they are trying to point out certain things that are not factual.”

    One key misrepresentation Nuñez highlighted involves a line item for allowances that the opposition framed as excessive pay for just one or two senior officials, including the mayor himself. In reality, Nuñez explained, that allocation is set aside for the entire town council, not a small group of leaders. He added that the opposition also pulled numbers out of context to inflate the perceived size of spending tied to the mayor’s office, omitting critical context that the budget line includes not just official allowances, but also staff salaries and proposed funding for annual public celebrations.

    Those public festivities, Nuñez noted, are a deliberate investment designed to drive foot traffic and stimulate San Pedro’s local economy throughout the year, a core municipal function that falls under the purview of the mayor’s office. All the figures the opposition cited, he emphasized, are only proposed spending targets, not a record of money that has already been spent.

    The mayor went on to refute any suggestion of hidden financial activity, noting that all completed official audit reports for the San Pedro Town Council from the past five years are fully accessible to any member of the public who requests them. This report is a transcript of a broadcast evening newscast, with all non-standard speech rendered via a standardized spelling protocol for published distribution.

  • The city of Cap-Haïtien is gradually regaining its splendor

    The city of Cap-Haïtien is gradually regaining its splendor

    Nestled along Haiti’s northern coast, the nation’s historic second-largest city Cap-Haïtien is steadily emerging from a period of stagnation to reclaim its long-dimmed cultural and economic glory, driven by coordinated action between national authorities and a new local administration. Since the installation of Mayor Michel Saint-Croix’s Municipal Commission earlier this year, a sweeping, multi-sector revitalization agenda has turned ambitious policy pledges into visible on-the-ground change, with the ultimate goal of positioning the city as a leading national hub for tourism, investment and inclusive development.

    Cap-Haïtien’s rich colonial heritage and proximity to world-famous historical sites have long positioned it as a natural tourism anchor for Haiti, but years of underinvestment had left the city struggling with crumbling infrastructure, unmanaged waste and stagnant economic activity. To reverse this trend, Haiti’s central government launched an inter-ministerial support mission for the city months ago, creating a framework for close collaboration between national agencies and the new municipal leadership. This partnership has already delivered measurable progress, starting with a large-scale urban sanitation and reorganization initiative that has cleared accumulated waste from long-neglected neighborhoods, restored underused public spaces and completed targeted beautification projects across the city.

    These early, visible wins have done more than transform the city’s streetscape: they have rebuilt public confidence in local governance, proving that coordinated action between national and municipal authorities can deliver tangible results for residents. Beyond clean-up efforts, the administration is advancing a raft of projects to upgrade core public services, modernize key strategic sectors and improve public space management, laying the regulatory and infrastructural groundwork for sustained social and economic growth. Steady improvements to the urban environment have already made the city more livable for long-term residents and more welcoming to first-time visitors alike.

    Security, a critical prerequisite for any economic expansion, has also been a top priority. Targeted measures led by national law enforcement agencies have cemented Cap-Haïtien’s status as one of Haiti’s most stable major urban centers, creating a safe environment that encourages private investment, enables uninterrupted local economic activity and unlocks the city’s untapped tourism potential—one of the most promising drivers of future job growth in the region.

    Infrastructure modernization, the backbone of the entire revitalization strategy, is moving forward at an accelerated pace. The most high-profile advance is the ongoing upgrade of Cap-Haïtien International Airport, which is being redeveloped to meet modern international aviation standards and expand the city’s passenger and cargo capacity. A key milestone in this effort is the upcoming launch of regularly scheduled American Airlines flights to the city starting November 1, 2026, a move expected to dramatically boost international tourist arrivals, cross-border trade and new business opportunities across the northern region.

    Multiple complementary infrastructure projects are also underway: road rehabilitation works connecting key urban corridors to the airport, the launch of the RN3 highway rehabilitation project, street clearance initiatives to reduce congestion, a city-wide addressing and numbering program, and the reopening of the renovated Cap-Haïtien main post office, among other upgrades. These interconnected projects are designed to address longstanding gaps in basic services and connect the city more effectively to regional and global markets.

    Today, Cap-Haïtien enters its next chapter with cautious but clear confidence. The pipeline of active projects, confirmed international transport links, growing investor interest and steady infrastructure improvements all reflect a collective national commitment to building a modern, dynamic and prosperous city that can lead Haiti’s broader economic renewal. With its unrivaled historical heritage, strategic geographic position and untapped economic potential, Cap-Haïtien is reaffirming its role as one of the core engines of national development—and a powerful showcase for what coordinated, committed governance can achieve for Haiti.

  • Espat Faces Heat Over Highway Drain Complaints

    Espat Faces Heat Over Highway Drain Complaints

    A major $65 million infrastructure rehabilitation project along two of Belize’s busiest arterial highways is facing growing public backlash after local residents raised urgent alarms over flawed drainage design that threatens to bring repeated flooding to their properties. The ongoing upgrades, covering the George Price Highway stretch from Hattieville to Belize City’s Pound Yard Bridge and the parallel Phillip Goldson Highway, were billed as a long-term improvement to regional connectivity and quality of life. But for homeowners living adjacent to the construction zones, the project has created an immediate new hazard: newly installed drainage systems along the road edge are graded higher than adjacent residential yards, leaving properties vulnerable to standing water and flood damage during heavy rain events.

    As public criticism mounts, Julius Espat, Belize’s Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing, has come under increasing pressure to address the hundreds of resident complaints. In a recent press briefing responding to the concerns, Espat pushed back against critiques while acknowledging the growing pains that accompany large-scale public infrastructure projects. He emphasized that every resident grievance is being evaluated individually by government teams, rather than being dismissed out of hand.

    Espat explained that the higher road grading and redesigned drainage systems at the center of complaints are not mistakes, but intentional changes required to meet modern climate resilience standards. International financial institutions (IFIs) that provided the loan funding for the rehabilitation project mandate that all new infrastructure meet updated climate resilience criteria, a response to shifting global weather patterns that have brought more frequent extreme storm events to coastal regions like Belize.

    To adapt to these changing conditions, Espat noted, the project incorporates multiple climate-focused adjustments: road beds are being elevated to reduce flood damage to the highway itself, more extensive and deeper drainage networks are being installed to handle larger rain volumes, and more durable concrete is being used in place of traditional chip seal and hot mix asphalt in high-exposure areas. He added that most complaints arise during the early construction phase, when temporary elevated grading is still in place before final adjustments are completed. To resolve individual concerns, Espat said the ministry has deployed dedicated teams of civil engineers and social outreach specialists to meet directly with affected homeowners, assess their specific flood risks, and implement targeted adjustments to address each community’s needs.

    This report is a transcribed excerpt from an evening television news broadcast in Belize.

  • Julius Espat Clashes with UDP Over Flood-damaged Highway

    Julius Espat Clashes with UDP Over Flood-damaged Highway

    What was once a debate over the structural resilience of a flood-battered Belizean highway has erupted into a sharp public political clash, with ruling party infrastructure minister Julius Espat hitting back at opposition claims that the government misrepresented cost savings on the 2023 Coastal Plain Highway project.

    After heavy floodwaters damaged multiple stretches of the Coastal Plain Highway earlier this year, the United Democratic Party (UDP) ramped up criticism of the government’s handling of the project, arguing the highway’s compromised condition proves the ruling party’s reported cost savings were either misleading or misallocated – questioning why a newly opened route suffered such severe damage from seasonal flooding.

    But in a recent public address carried on local television, Espat pushed back firmly against the opposition’s claims, labeling the criticism a cynical political distortion of facts. “That is politics. You twist the truth to suit your needs,” Espat said, pushing back on the UDP’s claim that the government originally advertised $28 million in total project savings on the highway. “At no time did we say we saved twenty-eight million dollars on the Coastal Highway, at no time.”

    Breaking down the project’s budget structure for the public, Espat explained that the savings in question came from unspent contingency funds set aside during construction. All major infrastructure contracts include layered budget allocations: core construction costs, administrative overhead, social impact mitigation, warranty reserves, and a contingency buffer reserved to address unforeseen issues that arise during building work. These contingency funds are held in partnership with international financial institutions (IFIs) that fund many of Belize’s large infrastructure projects, and require formal approval to reallocate if they go unused.

    Espat confirmed that during the Coastal Plain Highway’s construction, no unexpected complications emerged that required drawing on the contingency reserve. Rather than leaving the funds idle, the ministry successfully requested approval from IFIs to reallocate the unused contingency to upgrade two critical secondary access routes: paving the Manatee entrance road and the connection to Mollins River. That reallocation, he said, is the full extent of the “savings” the government referenced in prior briefings in 2023 and 2024, not broad, across-the-board cuts to the main highway project that would have compromised structural integrity.

    The Coastal Plain Highway, a key transport link connecting multiple communities along Belize’s coast, was officially opened to public use in 2023. The flood damage that sparked the current dispute occurred in recent months, reigniting long-running political tensions over infrastructure investment and government budget transparency in the country. This report is adapted from a transcribed broadcast of local evening news programming.

  • Undercover Inspections Hit Shops Amid Price Gouging Complaints

    Undercover Inspections Hit Shops Amid Price Gouging Complaints

    As soaring living costs push more consumers to struggle with skyrocketing checkout prices, national regulators in Belize have announced a major shift in enforcement strategy to crack down on widespread price gouging. Amid a steady surge in consumer complaints about unfair pricing on essential goods, the Supplies Control Unit (SCU) is rolling out an aggressive, proactive overhaul of its monitoring operations: expanding its workforce, opening new regional offices across the country, and replacing its old complaint-only model with routine surprise undercover inspections designed to catch pricing violations in real time.

    Speaking on the new approach, SCU Controller Lennox Nicholson explained that the shift follows a critical policy change from several years prior that vastly expanded the unit’s regulatory authority. Under the agency’s previous structure, regulators were only empowered to oversee a narrow subset of consumer goods, leaving most potential price gouging cases unaddressed. Even when members of the public reported suspicious pricing, the SCU was often forced to inform complainants that the product in question fell outside its jurisdiction, leaving unfair practices unchallenged.

    “That all changed when the list of regulated goods was expanded,” Nicholson noted. “Now we have broader authority, greater responsibility, and the ability to intervene across a far wider range of essential products that consumers rely on every day.” While the agency is working to encourage the public to resume reporting suspicious pricing activity, it has proactively integrated random surprise inspections into its regular schedule, maintaining a consistent visible and undercover presence in retail spaces across the country. Unlike the old system that only responded to complaints, the SCU now conducts checks even when no public reports have been filed, making market fairness an ongoing priority rather than a reactive measure.

    The agency’s geographic expansion has also drastically improved its ability to enforce rules consistently. Previously, all personnel were based in the capital city of Belmopan, requiring long travel times to reach northern districts like Orange Walk and Corozal and delaying inspections. Now, with local staff based in regional offices, regulators can respond quickly and check retail locations far more frequently.

    When selecting which establishments to inspect, the SCU prioritizes two key groups to maximize public protection: high-traffic retailers that serve large volumes of consumers, and smaller, less visible businesses where the risk of non-compliance with pricing rules is typically higher. The new enforcement push comes as growing numbers of Belizean consumers report feeling financial strain from ongoing cost of living increases, making fair pricing for essential goods a top public priority.

    This report is adapted from a transcribed transcript of an evening television newscast from Belize.

  • Belize’s 2026 Sugar Cane Crop Closes Earlier than Expected

    Belize’s 2026 Sugar Cane Crop Closes Earlier than Expected

    Belize’s $120 million sugar cane industry has announced an early close to its 2026 growing season, cutting the harvest short by several weeks to address a cascade of interconnected challenges that have derailed production targets for the year. The official end of harvesting operations is scheduled for June 21, more than two months ahead of the typical season close, after farmers and mill operators agreed that remaining unharvested cane could not be profitably or practically collected given current constraints.

    For small and large-scale sugar cane producers across the country, this decision brings a mix of relief and lingering anxiety. The 2026 season has been one of the most difficult in recent memory, marked by soaring input costs, unpredictable weather patterns, widespread pest infestations, labor shortages, and unexpected processing disruptions at the country’s sugar mills. Industry stakeholders convened a crisis meeting earlier this week to evaluate the remaining cane in the fields and weigh the costs of continuing harvest against potential returns, ultimately reaching a unanimous decision to wrap operations early.

    Vladimir Puck, Chairman of the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association (CSCPA), explained that labor shortages have emerged as the most persistent and crippling barrier to production, a challenge the industry has faced for nearly three years running. “The biggest issue we’re grappling with right now is a lack of available cane cutters,” Puck shared in an interview. “Even without other problems, that single issue would hold us back. On top of that, the mill also experienced unexpected mechanical breakdowns during the season, which further slowed processing and created backlogs that we can’t make up at this point.”

    Olivia Carballo-Avilez, Cane Farmer Relations Manager for Belize Sugar Industries (BSI), outlined the gap between initial projections and final production numbers. When the season launched in January, stakeholders forecast total cane deliveries of just under 1 million tons. As of the week of the early close announcement, total deliveries hit roughly 815,000 tons, falling far short of the target. Recent heavy rainfall has turned field conditions muddy and impassable for harvesting crews, with only 20,000 to 25,000 additional tons deemed accessible even with extended operations. These poor field conditions have also disrupted factory processing schedules, creating additional pressure to end the season early. “We sat down together as stakeholders and made the collective decision to close the crop based on the realities we’re facing on the ground,” Carballo-Avilez noted.

    The 2026 season was launched with high hopes and major public investment: at the opening ceremony in January, Prime Minister John Briceño announced a $120 million industry-wide revitalization plan, including $3 million earmarked directly to support smallholder farmers. Briceño emphasized the government’s commitment to strengthening the sugar sector, which is a cornerstone of Belize’s rural economy, by placing the Ministry of Sugar directly under his oversight and launching a coordinated plan to address longstanding industry issues alongside producer associations and BSI.

    Not all outcomes from the 2026 season are negative. Farmers report that overall cane quality has improved thanks to technical support from the Sugar Industry Research and Development Institute (SIRDI), resulting in higher sugar output per ton of harvested cane that partially offsets lower total production volumes. Even so, industry leaders warn that urgent intervention is needed to avoid a repeat of poor production results in the 2027 season.

    Alfredo Ortega, Vice Chairman of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA), explained that growing pest infestations are already threatening next year’s crop, and many small-scale producers cannot afford the cost of pest control treatments on their own. “Right now, we’re seeing rising infestation rates across multiple cane fields,” Ortega explained. “If we don’t address this immediately, we’ll see a sharp drop in cane quality for the next crop. The current payments farmers receive don’t cover the cost of spraying for pests, so we’re waiting on the government, SIRDI and CRESAP to roll out a support program to provide these resources to producers.”

    Puck added that mealybug infestations have hit cane fields particularly hard this year, and the problem has not improved despite ongoing efforts to manage it. Shifting weather patterns and widespread yellowing cane have further compounded pest pressures, creating a growing set of threats that the industry has yet to bring under control. While farmers remain cautiously optimistic that targeted support will help them turn around production for the 2027 season, widespread uncertainty remains about the sector’s near-term trajectory. This report was compiled by Britney Gordon for News Five.