Introduction
Barbados is considered to be the perfect holiday destination. The tourism industry is the island’s top source of income. Sugar is the second biggest source of revenue. Sugar cane has supported the Barbadian economy for nearly 400 years, but soon it could disappear entirely because Barbados, and other former colonies of European countries, are losing their preferential trading relationship with their former colonial powers. By 2009, in the name of creating a level playing field for free trade, the price that countries like Barbados will be paid by the EU for their sugar will be slashed by 40%. This is to be considered as a death sentence for West Indies sugar. Barbadians stubbornly refuse to give up their sugar and they are fighting back.
Original article “Sun, sea and … sugar” by Joanna Blythman, The Observer (Sunday July 22, 2007).
Essay by Melissa Gunawan
Master in Tourism Destination Management student 2008/2009
Free trade can be defined as a system which the trade of goods and services between or within countries flows by government imposed restrictions. Thanks to free trade it is possible to trade the goods and services against lower prices, which should lead to a better economy for both parties. Reading this article, it turns out that free trade will have a tremendously negative impact for Barbados.
As mentioned in the article, sugar cane is the second biggest source of revenue. Barbados can not rely only on the tourism industry. This is because the tourism industry can not guarantee a steady revenue. This does not necessarily mean that this is caused by the attractions what the country has to offer, but there is also the cause of external factors. For instance, if a hurricane will pass by Barbados, the tourism industry will be immensely effected. To ensure a steady income, Barbados needs their sugar cane industry.
The disappearance of the sugar cane industry will not only have an economical impact but it will also have a big cultural impact for the country. The article states that sugar is woven deep into the cultural and social fabric of the island and deeply engrained in its psyche. For Barbadians, the familiar sweet scent of newly cut sugar cane fields is the very essence of home. If the sugar cane industry will disappear, the country will lose a part of their history, their pride, which will also have an effect in the tourism industry. The change of image will occur. Barbados without sugar cane would not look like the paradise island that is described in many travel brochures.
The question that we can ask in this situation is: Is the free trade a good solution? The European Union has offered a pittance in compensation. But if Barbados would have these wages, the workers would ‘starve’ within a week. It is also mentioned that although the sugar of Barbados is now produced in a demonstrably equitable manner, Barbados is ranked as too developed for it to qualify for Fair-trade status. This fact shows the contradictory to its current situation.
The article also includes the point of views of several Barbadians. What touched me while reading the article is that how important the sugar cane industry is to the Barbadians. They have been producing sugar cane for nearly 400 years and they know that they deliver good quality of sugar cane, they have always had the finest reputation. It would be a great shame if Barbados would lose this industry. The Barbadians persist to save the sugar industry and in order to save the sugar cane industry, Barbados has come up with a new strategy which is to develop a new generation of sugars that has to distinguish it from its competition. While in other countries the sugar cane industry can be seen as an ecological disaster, on Barbados the sugar cane is a green and a sustainable corp. What impressed me is that the Barbadians have a high ambition to come up with something newer and greener with their sugar cane. This shows that they are no quitters, they have faith in their product and they have hope in the future of the sugar cane industry.
It is clear that with the opening of the market, Barbados might not be in the best position to compete with the size and potential of new markets, and that it will have a great impact on the people and the economy. But what we notice in this situation as well, is also how free trade promotes competition. Barbados is already considering alternative solutions to hold its position, by producing an (even) better product. Thus by offering quality to consumers, it will try to compete with the other markets that might be able to produce quantity but maybe not the same quality. And nevertheless, I think we also need to consider it more widely, the effects that the opening of this market might have for other countries that could not enter before.
I have read in another article that the sugar cane production in Barbados has become uneconomically over the course of time, i.e. the production cost has exceeded the selling price on the world market. Despite some drastic changes in the production methods (e.g. reducing the total number of factories from initially ten to two; and manual labour was replaced by mechanical harvesting) the situation has not significantly changed. Interesting was to read that the European Union ended their support for Barbados’ sugar cane production in order to protect their own beet sugar industry. Not a big surprise that Barbadian farmers are already thinking about using sugar cane for other purposes than sugar production.