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Tractor carrying cane from the field to the sliding. (Photo by Erasmus Williams) |
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JUNE 28TH 2005 - A group of Virgin Islanders plans to travel to St. Kitts next month to witness a historic event - the production of St. Kitts' last sugar crop.
Delegation members hope that information gathered from the St. Kitts trip will help their efforts to develop the former site of the Bethlehem Sugar Factory on St. Croix. St. Croix Farmers in Action, the V.I. Agriculture Department and the Historic Preservation Office are restoring the site of the factory - the last sugar factory that operated in the Virgin Islands. St. Croix's last sugar crop was produced in 1966.
The delegation will include four Farmers in Action members, Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Stafford Crossman, Sen. Terrence Nelson, Historic Preservation Director Myron Jackson and two videographers. They will be in St. Kitts from July 17 to July 22.
Agriculture Commissioner Lawrence Lewis said the group hopes to obtain information that can be used to create a model of a sugar-making operation. The model will be incorporated into the overall development plans for the Bethlehem Sugar Factory restoration project.
Tours of the factory and field operation of the island's sugar industry and interviews with Cedric Liburd, St. Kitts' minister of housing, agriculture, fisheries and consumer affairs, and other members of the St. Kitts Manufacturing Corp. are among some of the group's planned activities.
Lewis said the group will discuss the possibility of procuring a number of items from the corporation that may be suitable for display at the Bethlehem Sugar Factory.
Percival Edwards, president of the farmers' group, said the goal of the project is to gain an understanding of the full scope of the production of molasses and brown sugar on St. Kitts.
He said the history of the island's sugar production is similar to that of St. Croix, especially in the way the sugar was manufactured.
Now the closest place with such a process plant in place is that in St. Kitts, and we are really excited to be going to see it and bringing back knowledge and artifacts that would benefit the restoration project and the community, he said.
Edwards said the Estate Bethlehem project includes restoring a 5,000-square-foot building on the grounds to resemble a sugar and molasses processing plant.
We don't know exactly what the future will hold, but we are planning to bring the sugar production back to life on a small scale, he said.
Edwards said the organization is appealing to the public for financial help to purchase airfare and equipment needed to document the event.
He reminded the public of the historic importance of the project.
This is something we are doing today that will benefit generations of residents and the economic future of the island, Edwards said.
