Brief History of Sugar Production in Barbados

Tobacco and cotton used to be the main crops of choice in Barbados before sugar cane was introduced to the island planters in the mid 1600's. At the time of sugar cane's introduction to the island the tobacco industry was on the decline and the planters were looking for a new source of income for their plantations. It was a Dutchman, Peter Blower, who bought sugar cane plants from Brazil. The cane flourished in the ideal conditions of the Southern Caribbean and it went on to be a most lucrative cash crop for the already wealthy plantation owners.

As the sugar export industry grew on the island so did the amount of vast sugar plantations. Much of the land at the time was forested, but most of the trees were felled to make way for more sugar plantations, changing the landscape of Barbados for ever.

One requirement for large-scale sugar production at the time was a large labour force. This labour force were imported African slaves. By the early 1800's the population of slaves had reached almost 400,000. They were needed to grow, harvest and process the sugar cane and turn it into raw sugar, that was shipped off to the colonial master, England. Much of this process was performed by hand, before the later introduction of power. Windmills were introduced to reduce the work load of the slaves and remnants of many of these windmills can still be seen dotted allover Barbados.

There were several hundred sugar plantations in Barbados at the peak of sugar production, but today there are only a handful left still producing sugar. Those plantations that no longer produce sugar are often found for sale. One exception is St.Nicholas Abbey, that has started sugar cane farming again, as well as distilling their own rum.

Switching from tobacco and cotton production proved a blessing for the economic growth of Barbados. Sugar cane thrived in the good soil and climatic conditions of Barbados and produced up to 20kg for every square metre planted.

The interesting photograph from The Rumelier's collection shown above shows sugar cane being seeded on a sugar plantation in the early 1980's. Today sugar cane is grown from cane cuttings which can be harvested several times after it has been planted. However, each successive crop will yield less sugar and need to be replanted after several seasons of growth.

The cane fields are often set on fire to allow the leaves to be burnt away, which in turn exposes the roots for harvesting. Burning the fields also helps eliminate any unwanted animals, especially snakes from attacking any of the cane cutters. When the cane is harvested by hand with a large knife or machete, the cane is piled into large stacks and loaded onto trucks for delivery to the sugar factory. Mostly in these modern times the fields are harvested using large machines and only the difficult inaccessible areas of fields are still cut by hand, which is also less damaging to the crop than the big harvesting machines. Using large machines is much more cost and time efficient for the large sugar plantations.