Govt wants accountability as GuySuCo misses production targets

…new cane varieties from Brazil & Cuba among current interventions – VP

President Dr Irfaan Ali is expected to soon be briefed on the performance of the sugar industry, which has seen concern expressed recently on the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo’s) ability to meet its sugar production target for 2024.
During a press conference at Freedom House on Thursday, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo revealed that he, along with President Ali, spoke with Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha only recently and that the minister is expected to meet with relevant stakeholders in the industry before briefing the president.
“I was with the president a few days ago and he said to the Minister of Agriculture, directed him to meet with all the parties. The union, the management and a number of other people who have an interest or knowledge of sugar, to get a report back to him. Their argument has been that they have expanded the cultivation. They’re doing quite a bit of work in cultivation, to get more canes in the field. And they will increase back their target,” Jagdeo said.
He added, “From what I’ve heard, they’ll make between 60 and 70,000 tonnes this year. So clearly, that’s below their target. So, the Minister of Agriculture has to explain to the president why they’re underperforming on their target. And to give credible explanations. He’s asked that. I don’t want to be premature before that report comes back to the president.”
Jagdeo also slammed Alliance For Change (AFC) leader Khemraj Ramjattan, for jumping on the current underperformance of the sugar industry to score political points. According to Jagdeo, the AFC and Ramjattan should be the last to talk about the sugar industry, seeing as the industry was on its death bed under their leadership.
“Sugar workers have been working very hard. A lot of things are stacked against them. When you have so much, you need to reorient almost the entire industry. I’ve seen the attempt to do so now, in a major way. The conversion of the belts for mechanization. That requires a lot of capital input now, but will yield the benefits later for mechanized harvesting and sowing. That has been done, if you see the pictures.”
“The variety of cane they’re bringing in and planting, would have higher yields. And already we’re seeing this. Some are coming from Brazil. We’re looking at Cuba to bring in. Because all of the old ratoons, the old cane, are not yielding the kinds of varieties. We’ve had cases where the technical specialist from India, said we could get double the output per hectare if we just change the variety. And work is ongoing on that.”
Jagdeo also highlighted that due to deferred maintenance and the lack of capital investments dating back to APNU/AFC’s tenure, has caused factories to deteriorate. As a consequence, the PPP/C has had to take on the responsibility of resurrecting these factories. Additionally, Jagdeo acknowledged that there have also been management issues.
With an investment of $8.1 billion in 2023 to advance the revitalization efforts of the sugar industry, Guyana saw a massive 28 percent or 13,155 metric tonnes increase in sugar production, compared to 47,049 metric tonnes in 2022. This was highlighted by Minister Mustapha, during the ministry’s year-end review earlier this year.
But recently, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) had expressed concerns over the current trend of sugar production. The workers’ union had questioned the competency of the sugar company’s management in light of the poor performance so far for this year.
According to GAWU, as of October 26, 2024, GUYSUCO produced 24,711 tonnes of sugar, representing just 39 per cent of its 63,276-tonne target for the year. With 60 per cent of the cropping period already exhausted, GAWU had expressed apprehension on whether the deficit could be closed in the remaining cropping weeks.
Back in August, this publication reported that GuySuCo produced 6,738 tonnes of sugar for its first crop of 2024, falling short of the initial target of 16,000 tonnes. Minister Mustapha had stated at the time that the shortfall of the target was a result of the devastating effects of the prolonged drought, which “significantly restricted the growth of canes”.
He had revealed that the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate produced 2874.3 tonnes while Blairmont produced 2084.8 tonnes and Rose Hall with the lowest, 1779.8 tonnes. While the three estates began grinding sugar canes between February to April 2024, it was explained that the Albion Estate ‘did not grind for the first crop due to a powerhouse fire on February 3. The Skeldon Estate also encountered several issues when producing its first crop. (G3)