Mechanisation of GuySuCo forging ahead – Min Mustapha

– to address labour shortages, increase efficiency

The Government has assured that the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is moving into a different phase, where there will be an increased emphasis on mechanisation and the entity will return to profitability.
The pace at which Guyana’s economy has grown has seen some in various sectors complain about labour shortages. GuySuCo is also not immune to this phenomenon, but according to Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, mechanisation is one way this is being confronted.
During a recent sitting of the National Assembly, Mustapha revealed that the Government is investing in mechanised harvesting and other initiatives aimed at making the company more efficient.

“We will continue to set targets. For example, we said we wanted to start the mechanisation process. We have started it. We are now advancing in that stage. Because we know for a fact that harvesters, and cane cutters, we are not finding so many cane cutters now. That is why we want to mechanise. GuySuCo is moving into a different phase… we want to keep GuySuCo alive because GuySuCo is the single largest employer in the country.”
“We are trying now to do mechanisation in GuySuCo. We know for a fact that some people don’t want to go back to cutting cane. As such, we are mechanising. That is why we have studied and we have started the mechanisation at GuySuCo. We are now bringing in machines that will cut the canes. That will load the canes. And we are looking now to make GuySuCo more modernised and mechanised.”
It was explained by Mustapha that there are currently 4 mechanised harvesters and several loaders. A sum of $643 million in supplementary funding was recently granted to the Ministry of Agriculture, for wages and salaries. He went on to speak of the Government’s employment of 543 sugar workers at the Rose Hall Estate, as part of the mechanisation programme.
“This came about because of our programme. We reopened Rose Hall Estate. Rose Hall estate now is producing sugar. We have employed a total of 543 new employees. And we employed these people because of the mechanisation programme we have started. And we must also say those persons are from the area of Rose Hall, who were severed when the factory was closed,” Mustapha said.

The Government’s efforts to reopen the Rose Hall Estate saw a whopping $1.1 billion being expended this year to have the facility up and running. A summary of the major works included both civil and structural interventions – including rehabilitation of the cane gantry, pre-milling, milling, boiler and process house roofing. There was also the replacement of a vacuum pan, condenser structures, a chimney, and servicing of all equipment.
The Rose Hall facility is one of four estates that was closed by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition after it took office. Back in 2016, the former Government closed the Wales Estate, and the following year, shut down the Enmore, Rose Hall, and Skeldon Estates, putting over 7000 sugar workers on the breadline. The downsizing of the sugar industry resulted in only the Uitvlugt, Blairmont, and Albion Estates in operation.
After taking office in 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government had announced in the Emergency Budget presented in September 2020, that some $5 billion would be injected into the sugar industry for the phased reopening of the closed estates. Since then, sizeable allocations have been made to return the sector to its former glory.
GuySuCo was allocated a further $2 billion in Budget 2021 by the PPP/C Government for capital works to be undertaken at the various estates to help in the turnaround of the sugar industry. Then last year, GuySuCo received $1 billion in supplementary funds from the Government.
There is currently a five-year strategic plan at GuySuCo that aims to improve the mechanising of all the estates such as the refurbishing of generators across the industry, the building of 250 new punts, the creation of a new packaging plant at Albion, and the expansion of the packaging plant at Blairmont, among other initiatives. (G-3)