Local News

The opening of the processing season for citrus is about to start … but not without controversy.  The Citrus Growers Association is suggesting that the factory at Pomona be opened at the end of the month; but country’s largest processor, the Citrus Products of Belize Limited, is proposing that the opening be brought forward to today. That proposal to open for delivery and processing of fruit by CPBL is being supported by another group of producers known as Belize Citrus Mutual.  The other group says it is tentatively accepting CPBL’s first fruit price submission, subject to a review with CPBL. The Citrus Growers Association, in a press release says that it has so far only received a first fruit price submission for grapefruit, and none for orange.  CGA had requested a meeting with CPBL to discuss the submission which was made on Friday; but that meeting is yet to be formalized.  A meeting of the harvest committee, which is tasked with setting the schedule for the delivery of fruit to the factory which was supposed to happen today, was postponed on the instructions of the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture Jose Alpuche. The Chief Agricultural Officer is the chairman of the harvest committee.  With the submission for first fruit price for grapefruit already in hand, the CGA is requesting a submission forthwith for orange along with the annual sales plan as mandated in the legally binding 2010 arbitration report, which the CGA says was sanctioned by the Citrus Control Board.