Sugar industry’s challenges more complex than Skeldon
SKELDON SUGAR FACTORY
SKELDON SUGAR FACTORY

CHALLENGES in the sugar industry are complex and extend beyond the Skeldon sugar factory, according to former president, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.“Sugar’s problem is much more complex (than the challenges of Skeldon),” he said on Saturday, when asked about the state of the industry during a news conference held at Freedom House, Robb Street.

Dr Jagdeo pointed to the fact that sugar across the Caribbean region, as well as in other territories, is facing significant problems.
“Belize went out of sugar. Jamaica scaled back. Barbados went out of sugar. Trinidad and Tobago went out of sugar. St. Kitts went out of production. Our cost of production is still high and we still have the challenge in the cut in the prices in the EU (European Union) market, which led to a loss of US$40M per annum,” he explained.
MAKE SUGAR WORK
Moving forward, the former president stressed that the focus remains on “making sugar work” for the people who depend on the industry.
“Do we say let’s get out of sugar? If we get of our sugar, the entire Berbice region, not just the sugar workers, the shopkeepers, the taxi drivers, almost everyone – because it is a big thing in the economy – will be affected. We have to find a way to make sugar work,” he said.
RECOVERY STEPS
Dr Jagdeo listed mechanisation, new varieties of sugar cane to increase productivity in the field, investments at the other seven Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) estates and diversification of the revenue base in the industry via a distillery and refinery, among other initiatives that will aid the industry’s recovery.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executive member, during his tenure in public office, had committed to intervening to ensure that the reforms necessary for the industry’s turnaround were advanced.
“Maybe I should have intervened a bit more, but sugar is a challenge. Clearly Skeldon has problems and Skeldon needs to be fixed…we are prepared to work to fix sugar because sugar is not just about Berbice. It’s about the economy,” he noted.
SPECIFIC ISSUES
The wide base of challenges for the sugar industry considered, Dr Jagdeo maintains that the Skeldon factory remains a crucial part of the industry’s recovery effort and there are specific issues that need to be and will be addressed.
“Clearly, we still have to fix some of them because the factory is not running the way it should run and it has potential to do much more,” he said.
Dr Jagdeo noted that when the US$185M factory was commissioned, Tate and Lyle had been hired as Project Manager for the construction of the factory.
“Tate and Lyle was the project manager throughout. We have had issues throughout…there are specific issues that need fixing….I did try as president to fix these things, but clearly there is more to do,” he said.
The company’s services were terminated soon after the factory was commissioned in 2009 and GuySuCo reported to the National Assembly, last year, that it was pursing legal action against Tate and Lyle.
Over the weekend, numbers released by GuySuCo indicated that in 2014 the production at the Skeldon factory totalled 590,018 tons of cane, a production of 56.23 tons of cane per hectare (TCH). Since its commissioning, this is the highest production Skeldon has recorded. For 2015, GuySuCo estimates that the factory will produce 657,372 tons of cane at 59.62 tons of cane per hectare – an 11 per cent increase in cane production and a six per cent increase in productivity.
COMMITTED
Meanwhile, Dr Jagdeo reiterated that efforts will continue to be made to ‘fix’ the sugar industry.
“We are prepared to work on these challenges and to support the industry like we did in the bauxite community. Up to now we are still supporting the bauxite community with billions in electricity subsidies, billions of dollars in subsidies every year. We don’t hear much about that,” he said.
The former president underscored the importance the sector plays relative to its contribution to the economy.
“Sugar is about the economy. It is still a big foreign currency earner, still a big source for jobs, it is not something you dissolve in teacups,” he observed.
Also, harvesting of the first crop is ongoing at all eight estates, with a production of approximately 40,000 tonnes of sugar.
In 2014, GuySuCo recorded a production of 216,147 tonnes -– the first crop having surpassed the 75,000-tonne target, bringing in about 80,000 tonnes.
GuySuCo is targeting a 2015 production of some 240,000 tonnes. There is also a projection that the sector would reach a 400,000-tonne goal by 2020.

 

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.