KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - The government sees a promising future in the production of sugarcane-based ethanol and its potential to revitalize agriculture in this Caribbean nation.
'The world is seeing that ethanol is a big thing and ... the prospect of what we can earn from ethanol is simply going to be mind-blowing,' said Donovan Stanberry, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, in a statement on Friday.
Stanberry said ethanol, which fuels cars and can be used to generate electricity, would also help the Caribbean country cope with high global oil prices.
In 2005, the Jamaican government announced a plan to restructure the island's ailing sugar industry to focus production more on ethanol, raw sugar, and molasses. But the majority of the Caribbean nation's cane fields remain focused on sugar.
Jamaica was been squeezed by recent reductions in sugar subsidies by the European Union for producers in the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific.
Stanberry's comments follow a recent agreement by U.S. President George Bush and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to promote ethanol use as an alternative to fossil fuels, and to push for increased production in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Brazil is the world's biggest ethanol exporter, using sugarcane to produce it. Ethanol is also made from corn, barley, wheat and materials such as wood waste.
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