Cash-strapped Corentyne cane farmers owe billions to banks

Private cane farmers on the Corentyne owe in excess of $5 billion dollars to commercial banks and cannot service their loans.
The loans were taken following a tripartite agreement with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) as the guarantor and it is expected that these farmers will provide 34 per cent of the cane needed by the Skeldon factory when grinding commences in a year’s time.
The aggrieved farmers met with Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh on Saturday to vent their frustration and to find a solution.
During the meeting, former Member of Parliament Adrian Anamaya explained that due to the rundown fields, there is need for a substantial amount of funding to make them operable.
He told the Minister that banks will not lend money to the farmers. Prakash Singh, who has been in the industry for more than three decades, explained that GuySuCo did not fulfil its part of the tripartite agreement hence the farmers are in the present dilemma.

However, Krischan Jaichand, Corentyne Chamber of Commerce (CCC), noted that farmers need cash to get back into business.
However, Minister Singh noted that Government would have been instrumental in the initial stages of the design of the agreement which involves GuySuCo, the cane farmers and the financial institutions.
He said the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is not in the business of making unrealistic promises. “I cannot promise you that we will take over the loads because we can’t,” he told the farmers.
Speaking with the media after the meeting, Minister Singh explained that he will be meeting with the Bankers Associations with the aim of having the loans restructured and put in a way that they can be serviced and beneficial to all stakeholders.
He noted that there is a clause in the tripartite agreement that says that Government may at some point in time consider the provision of tax relief on the interest payable on these loans.
“We have said publicly that we will activate that clause which should trigger a process of restructuring the loans. So, in the first instance what we are going to do is to activate that clause that relates to tax relief in relation to the loans that were granted on this specific facility. Having taken that action we will then engage with the banks to see what can be done with respect to these loans because we want to see these farmers come back into active production,” Minister Singh said.
The farmers left the meeting quite unsatisfied since they were hoping that they would have a commitment from Government as it relates to those loans.
Meanwhile, the tripartite agreement was signed when the new Skeldon factory was being developed since it was anticipated that the private cane farmers would play an integral part in its functioning.
“There were a variety of terms in this agreement. Essentially it was a facility under which the banks agreed to lend private cane farmers monies to develop their private cane farms with undertakings accepted by all parties,” Minister Singh explained.
As it relates to the closure of the Skeldon Estate, he said the closure of the sugar industry is one of the biggest economic disasters.
“If you look across the economic history of this country, the decision by the APNU/AFC Government to close sugar was one of the most disastrous decisions taken with respect to its implications on the economy. We have seen the effects of the decision to close sugar, as a result of the closure of the sugar industry the entire economy in all sugar-producing areas including the whole of the Corentyne, West Demerara and places like Enmore and LBI, the implications of being truly devastating.”
The current Administration, he added, recognises that the importance of sugar is to the overall economy.
“And we have recognised this for a long time. We have been investing in the industry for a long time and it is our intention to make sure that we are able to resuscitate the industry and bring it back to a point where it is able to operate in a viable manner,” the Finance Minister noted.