ABSTRACT
Having assessed the socioeconomic impact of the cooperatives on the work force, this chapter aims to present a discussion of agricultural performance. An important goal in reforming the sugar industry was to reverse its decade-long declineto increase production, productivity and financial viability. When the sugar workers took over cane farming operations at Frome, Monymusk and Bernard Lodge, the estates had been in decline for ten years, as had the industry as a whole. Jamaican sugar manufacturers traditionally tended to emphasize the maximization of cane throughput, even where this resulted in pushing their cane farming operations beyond the point of optimum production. The manufacturers focused on maximizing cane throughput rather than farm revenues. The cooperatives in effect continued the practice of maximizing throughput rather than farm revenues. The practice of registering workers and assigning them to specific farms, which began after 1960, reduced flexibility and froze surplus labor problems.
