“WE do not say different things to different audiences, our position is very clear, the PPP/C Government is determined that the sugar industry must survive,” President Donald Ramotar assured residents of Rose Hall Wednesday last. The President was at the time addressing attendees at the 102nd anniversary commemoration ceremony of the Rose Hall Martyrs, at the monument site in East Canje, Berbice.
The Head of State related that the sugar industry has now gone into a new stage a time when it could make a big contribution to nation-building and to the development of Guyana, because it has in the Government and the PPP/C a friend. “Someone who understands the nature of the struggle, many of whom come from the bowels of the working class,” he said it is that understanding that made us so strong in defending the interest of sugar and bauxite workers everywhere.
Sugar still has a very important contribution to make to the development of Guyana, the President said and it is his view that the best days of sugar are still to come. “It is also true that the industry is going through a very difficult period,” Ramotar related. The Head of State expounded on some of the reasons for the issues that are currently being experienced within the industry and he noted that one of the major hindrances to the industry is the fact that the European Union (EU) which had an agreement with the ACP countries, that is, the African Caribbean and Pacific countries, to buy our sugar at preferential markets forever.
“The EU had reneged on that agreement in 2010 and the price of sugar was cut by 36%, he said and “if the industry was not strong it would have crumbled.” The sugar prices further fluctuated, and saw a drastic drop from 2013 to 2014 by some 60%.
“The problems in the industry are very real and the industry has to go through a process of restructuring; it needs support and assistance to restructure and our Government has been going in that direction, but we did not have the cooperation from any other forces in our country,” President Ramotar stressed.
“Some of them in the 2011 elections came to you and offered you 20% increase in wages and salaries and in less than a year later, the same people from the AFC joined with the APNU to say that the sugar industry must be closed and the fields must be used to harvest tilapia,” he elaborated.
“The industry needs to have a new strategy and some of the key elements are to increase the production and the productivity of this industry. We need to bring it back to producing some 400,000 tonnes of sugar per annum,” the President related. He noted also that it is time for us to diversify the sugar industry, and branch off to producing byproducts that will add value to sugar.
The Head of State said that India has promised assistance in producing specialty sugars and extensive discussions were had with Indian officials in this regard. In January, the president during a state visit to India toured the Valsad sugar factory in the State of Gujarat and was briefed on the plant’s operations.
“I will say now from this hallowed ground from where 15 persons gave their lives to save this industry, that the PPP/C Government is going to support this industry and ensure that it survives and over the next few years I am willing to spend a minimum of $20B to ensure that this industry regains its prominence in Guyana, ”The Head of State emphasised.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony during his remarks explained the importance of the sugar industry to Guyana’s economy. He further explained that the industry has made positive strides towards their development but more could be done.
“There are some false prophets who are coming around,” the minister explained, to fool people. “We must not be fooled; they are telling us that we must forget our history; they want us to forget what they did to the sugar industry in this country.”
Dr Anthony stressed that since the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government took office in 1992, what we had inherited was a broken industry and “we fixed it and yes we still have challenges and we have worked to make it better.”
“President Ramotar has always said that sugar is so intricately linked to the PPP/C and to this Government. We would never allow sugar to fail and he has kept that promise, even though the Government has been blocked so many times by the Opposition,” the minister said.
The minister continued to stress: “We must remember who are the friends of the sugar industry and who are the friends of the sugar workers of this country, that is the president, his Government and the PPP/C. We would have a choice to make on May 11 and I am telling you [that you] will have a choice to make because if you want this country to grow and prosper, then you know the choice you have to make and that choice is to bring back Donald Ramotar and PPP/C into government.”