Burning sugar cane fields Jamaica. 2003.
Caymanas sugar estate Jamaica. A controlled burn is carried out before harvesting the cane. less manual labor is required through using this method. It takes place during the harvest season.When sugar cane is burned to remove the outer leaves around the stalks before harvesting, thousands of tons of hazardous pollutants are released into the air. An alternative to this method is the so called ‘Green Harvest’ where by through the use of mechanical harvesting machinery, the outer leaves are removed and left on the fields to create bio-mass trash material. This method is considered very expensive and reduces profits. Others argue that leaving the trash creates a risk of uncontrolled fires in the fields. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugarcane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
Burning sugar cane fields Jamaica. 2003.
Caymanas sugar estate Jamaica. A controlled burn is carried out before harvesting the cane. less manual labor is required through using this method. It takes place during the harvest season.When sugar cane is burned to remove the outer leaves around the stalks before harvesting, thousands of tons of hazardous pollutants are released into the air. An alternative to this method is the so called ‘Green Harvest’ where by through the use of mechanical harvesting machinery, the outer leaves are removed and left on the fields to create bio-mass trash material. This method is considered very expensive and reduces profits. Others argue that leaving the trash creates a risk of uncontrolled fires in the fields. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugarcane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
Cane cutter at work in the fields. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugar cane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
A woman clears straw from the sugar leafs and prepares a field for more planting of sugar cane. The typical life cycle of a sugar cane plant is three years. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugar cane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
A Jamaican sugar worker cycles home through the cane fields at the end of hard days work cutting cane in the fields of the Jamaican government owned Caymanas sugar estate. At its peak sugar cane estates in Jamaica employed 50,000 people. But a mixture of privatisation, and the end of EU quotas combined with closure of estates has hit the Jamaican sugar industry hard. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugarcane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
Cane cutter at work in the fields. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugar cane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
Sugarcane cutter at work in the fields using a cane machete with a wide, blunt-tipped blade perfect for hacking corn stalks and sugarcane. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugarcane on the Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
Sugar cane cutter at work in the fields. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugar cane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
Jamaican Sugar Workers taking a break from the searing sun in an
Jamaican Sugar Workers taking a break from the searing sun in an old sugar transport hut. Caymanas Sugar Estate, St Catherine Jamaica 2003. After Jamaica gained independence in 1962, sugar cane estates in Jamaica employed 50,000 people. But a combination of privatisation, and the end of EU quotas combined with the closure of estates has hit the Jamaican sugar industry hard over the last 20 years. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugar cane on the Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
Portrait of a sugar cane cutter at work in the fields. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugar cane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.