Suggestions to save sugar (Part 2)

Dear Editor,
We have started the production of electricity from the baggasse at Skeldon. We can establish two others at Albion and Enmore to supply our grid! More revenue streams for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). In the absence of the hydro-power project, this offers an important source of renewable energy.
Here again, the State-owned GuySuCo and GPL can partner to make this profitable for both companies. The social benefits of having reliable energy is incalculable. With cheaper energy more businesses can grow.
With such a project, we can reduce the importation of fuel for electricity generation and even bring down the price to consumers. It is a win-win situation.
On the agricultural side of the business, Indian technical assistance can make a huge contribution. GuySuCo spends millions to import fertilisers for the sugar cane. India is using liquid fertilisers made from the cane leaves and other materials now thrown away. The cost is a fraction of fertilisers coming as a byproduct of fossil fuel. Here too the rice industry can benefit. It will reduce their costs appreciable.
We were experimenting with that while the PPP/C was in office. This is worth persuing with Indian technical assistance.
We were also in the process of buying a compactor for baggasse so that we would make ‘bricks’ from the baggasse and use them in our boilers to eliminate the use of wood. That would save millions for the company. Successful trials were already done with the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) at the University of Guyana.
At the factory level, we need to do much re-capitalisation. India is one for the largest producers of spare parts for sugar factories. Its prices are a fraction of the prices if parts are sourced from Europe and North America. This can be a major help to the industry and the country. It would help us to rapidly improve efficiency of the factories, increase recoveries and earn more.
One of the most important benefits is the amounts of jobs that could be created; technical and good paying jobs for our youths leaving school.
Right now, because GuySuCo is not hiring, graduates in agriculture from the University of Guyana cannot find employment. They are kicking bricks on the road.
If the regime can remove its animus towards sugar workers and the industry and view the situation objectively, we could see that sugar will still play a leading role in the development of Guyana. All our people stand to gain, directly and indirectly.
The Indian offer has now been acknowledged. Go for it and help our Guyanese people who are suffering from the lack of jobs and a slothful economy.
It is time to have a national conference on the future of the sugar industry and stop the closures.

Respectfully,
Donald Ramotar
Former President