National Rums of Jamaica Ltd.

by double digits, I’m going to need more molas- ses. So, I would argue that one of the challeng- es that we currently face is not enough local molasses being available to the industry, which forces us to import. Not having adequate sugar cane limits the amount of available local molas- ses for production, and so, partly for this reason, in recent years, we have gone into the produc- tion of sugar cane as an experimental project.” The result of responding to that need has ac- tually helped National Rums to develop a “green” protocol that is an environmentally-friendly, closed-loop system. “The sugar cane is grown and from the cane, sugar is produced,” Harrison notes. “The by-product is molasses. That mo- lasses substrate is fermented and distilled and turned into rum, and the by-product of that pro- cess is a liquid wash from our plant that, in turn, can be used to fertilize the sugar cane.” In a fur- ther attempt to become a greener company,Har- rison says that National Rums is also examining how it utilizes the energy needed to run its dis- tilleries. “We’re looking at our usage of fuel,” he says. “Solar is an option; liquefied natural gas is another option. They both allow for cleaner out- put and ensure that we are protecting the en- NATIONAL RUMS OF JAMAICA LTD.