Guyana-based Caribbean group seeks to partner with US to boost sugarcane production

A Guyana-based organization that oversees sugar production in the Caribbean says it is seeking to partner with U.S. companies to help save one of the world's oldest sugarcane breeding institutions.

The Sugar Association of the Caribbean says it is meeting with U.S.-based companies including the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.

Association spokesman Karl James said Tuesday that the West Indies Central Sugar Cane Breeding Station in Barbados needs additional financing, new technology and qualified personnel. The station has been operating for more than 100 years.

Only four of 15 members of a Caribbean trade bloc known as Caricom still produce sugar. They are Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados and Belize.