He indicated that his Administration’s efforts on improving the sector would only culminate when the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) can positively contribute to the National Treasury.

He went on to highlight what remains to be completed to make this a reality.

The plan for the Skeldon factory dictates that it will reach its full capacity by the end of 2011 when GUYSUCO and private farmers should be able to supply the 1.1 million tonnes of cane needed for the factory.

The additional canes will be produced from about 4,700 hectares of new estate lands in Manarabisi (for a total of over 9,600 hectares) and about 4,200 hectares of new lands being developed for private farmers at locations near the estate and at Moleson Creek.

The President declared that this was not satisfactory and charged the management of GUYSUCO and Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, to ensure that GUYSUCO and the private farmers can provide the factory with the 1.1 million tonnes of cane by 2010.

He indicated that, if more resources are needed, his Administration would be willing to make it available.

“We are going to make a serious effort – the Board (of GUYSUCO) must understand that and the Minister (of Agriculture, Robert Persaud) has to ensure that it happens,” the Head of State said.

The President also stated that GUYSUCO has to be aggressive in its pursuit of diversification and the development of value-added products.

He highlighted the need to look at packaging Guyana’s sugar under the Demerara Gold brand, for which Government is investing $2.4B to construct a packaging plant at the Enmore Sugar Estate.

Minister Persaud had earlier indicated that the Administration was looking at establishing a refining plant at Skeldon as well.

Other options for diversification include generating electricity from bagasse fuel which will be supplied to the Berbice grid and the production of ethanol for both domestic use and export.

On December 20, 2007, GUYSUCO had begun supplying co-generated power to the Berbice Grid. The co-generation factory has the capacity to supply 10MW of electricity daily from one 5.0MW set and two 2.5MW sets.

Power is dispatched to the grid at 13.8kV for the first phase of export and a 69kV transmission link is being installed to take the full output from Skeldon. Since the start in December 2007, the incidence of load shedding in Berbice has reduced significantly.

President Jagdeo also highlighted the roles of the management and workers in the industry in achieving the goal of modernising sugar in Guyana.

He explained that there must be accountability by the managers for the performance of the sector. He stressed that management compensation should be tied to performance and when the industry does well, they should be rewarded with bonuses.

However, he warned that they should be penalised when the sector performs poorly.

The President was also tough on the workers, noting that while they have a right to fair compensation, they must also understand that they have to play a critical role in the development of the industry.

One of the factors that have been quoted for the poor performance of the industry recently has been that the workers have not been in the fields to harvest the cane in a timely manner.

Finally, the Head of State challenged the forces in the industry to increase productivity, setting a target of 400,000 tonnes of sugar annually. (GINA)