Senator Calls for Increased Use of Innovative Techniques in Sugar Industry

Minister of State for Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Senator Kern Spencer, has called for increased use of innovative technologies in the sugar industry to ensure greater levels of efficiency within the sector.
“We need to focus on applying more innovative techniques that will maximize efficiency within the sugar industry; innovation is a necessity that will lead to greater levels of efficiency,” he stated.
Senator Spencer was speaking at the National Commission on Science and Technology’s (NCST) stakeholders meeting on Agriculture, Science and Technology Innovation Systems in Jamaica today (Nov. 7), at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. The meeting was to present a case study on the sugarcane industry with emphasis on energy supply.
The State Minister further noted that the use of technological innovation was not only needed in the sugar industry but “across all sectors .to make life easier for everybody and our country more prosperous”.
“We cannot deny that the most powerful and prosperous countries in the world today are those that have invested to develop a strong knowledge base in agriculture, science and technology,” he stated.
Senator Spencer pointed out however, that for innovation to take place there must be opportunities for continuous learning. “The opportunities to learn also depend greatly on the degree and types of interactions among the different businesses, organisations, and related sectors, as institutional behaviours will determine the extent to which technical knowledge is applied and will produce the highest levels of efficiency,” he stated.
Senator Spencer expressed the hope that the case study on the sugarcane industry “will help to generate new plans of action and strategies to really enhance our socio-economic development.
“We want to see from this study, a renewed and refocused effort to effectively harness innovation to create valuable goods and services for the world, not just Jamaica, not just the Caribbean, but the entire world,” he emphasised.