Rose Hall, Blairmont leading way as GuySuCo targeting 40,000 tonnes of sugar in 1st crop – Mustapha

The Rose Hall and Blairmont estates are leading the way when it comes to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) achieving its first crop target and, in the long run, its overall 2025 target of 100,000 tonnes of sugar.
Last year, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government had announced an ambitious target of 100,000 tonnes of sugar for 2025. In an interview with this publication, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha explained the progress that has been made so far in realizing this goal.
“They only started recently. Last week Rose Hall would have made their target. I hope Albion and Uitvlugt will come on stream. And we should meet the target for this crop,” the agriculture minister explained.
Mustapha noted that for the first crop alone, they have had a promising start, with the Blairmont and Rose Hall estates setting the pace. He was also optimistic that Albion and Uitvlugt would make contributions of their own, towards realizing a first crop goal of 40,000 tonnes of sugar.

“We’re striving to make 40,000 tonnes… we’ve budgeted 37,000. But I’m hoping that we can make 40,000 tonnes this crop and 60,000 next crops, so we can do the 100,000 this year. Because the canes are good in the field. As long as the weather permits it, we’ve done a lot of capitalization on the factories.”
“And we are also procuring equipment. Things like harvesters, billet harvesters. These machine canes. They cutting the canes and loading it. And then we have these punt dumpers. The bell loaders. So, we increased those fleets. And then we’re also moving very, very aggressively to continue the mechanization process started.”
GuySuCo produced 6,738 tonnes of sugar for its first crop of 2024, falling short of the initial target of 16,000 tonnes. In total, less than 50,000 tonnes of sugar were produced in 2024, with President Dr. Irfaan Ali warning that heads will roll if GuySuCo’s 2025 first crop targets aren’t met.
Additionally, Mustapha himself had instructed GuySuCo management to work more closely with workers to address the issues facing the industry. This he noted would require senior leaders, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul Cheong to conduct more intensive visits and increase interaction with workers in the field.
Since the destruction of the sugar industry left by the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) government, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has invested significant sums in recapitalizing and mechanizing the industry.
Between 2020 and 2024, the Government invested approximately $45 Billion in the sugar industry, to revitalize the sector and make it a vital component of the country’s developmental plans.

The focus has been on modernizing operations, including the mechanization of estates, with at least 40 per cent of the estates now automated. Additionally, efforts have been made to recapitalize the industry by replacing broken infrastructure and systems to improve efficiency.
The sugar sector contracted by 21.8 per cent in 2024 with GuySuCo producing 47,103 tonnes from the 63,276-tonne target. The low production was as a result of the impact of El Niño, compounded by labour shortages across the industry throughout last year.
Last year, some $15.5 billion was expended on support to the sugar industry, including the acquisition of six new cane harvesters; conversion of 2,734 hectares of land for mechanized cultivation and harvesting, and rehabilitated critical revetment works.
In 2025, an additional 3,068 hectares of land will be converted to support mechanization. Key investments will be made to acquire additional field equipment, rehabilitate field infrastructure, and construct over 17 kilometres of all-weather roads across the industry.
For these efforts, some $13.3 Billion was approved during the budget estimates – as part of the Agriculture Ministry’s $104.6 billion budget – to support and rehabilitate the sugar industry this year.