Why did Chinese and South Asian labourers migrate to Belize in the 1860s and 1870s?

In the 1860s and 1870s, the owners of sugar estates in Belize sponsored the immigration of several hundred Chinese and South Asian labourers to work on their plantations.12

This migration occurred as the region began transitioning toward the production of sugar, bananas, and citrus, following agricultural developments introduced by refugees fleeing the Caste War in the Yucatán beginning in 1847. At the time, the local economy was shifting away from its traditional reliance on forest products like mahogany and logwood, which had previously defined the colonial settlement's labor structure.12