CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Mr. Paul Bhim, has refuted an article published in Thursday’s Kaieteur News and headlined ‘Truth being hidden about poor sugar production’.

According to that KN article, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, dismissed claims by Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy that intermittent rainfall has had a negative impact on sugar production, blaming instead management-related issues for all the problems GuySuCo is encountering.
Bhim is standing by what Minister Ramsammy had stated, and he emphasised that constant rainfall in the past few weeks had in fact affected production.
In an invited comment yesterday, he said all estates from Skeldon to Wales have been affected by the rainfall, and that constant rains have prevented the burning of canes and the operation of bell loaders.
Bhim conceded that there are management issues within the corporation, noting that any industry as big as the local sugar industry would have issues. However, he stressed that those issues are not so many as to hinder production in a major way.
As of yesterday morning, he advised, year-to-date sugar production stood at 210,895 tonnes, with another two weeks to go before the crop ends. He could not readily say whether the year’s set target of 236,000 tonnes would be met, but stressed that the outcome depends on the weather, and the corporation is hoping for favourable weather for the remaining weeks.
He also related that employee turnout was weakening, as is common around this time of the year.
Meanwhile, President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Mr. Komal Chand, pointed to the fact that the industry performed poorly in the first crop, and said that shows an overall impact at the end of the year.
According to him, the production of 71,000 tonnes of sugar in the first crop was the lowest first-crop production recorded since 1991. Chand said that according to the trend of production in the past few weeks, he estimates that, at the end of this crop, approximately 222,000 tonnes would be produced.
He also highlighted that intermittent rainfall had adversely impacted on production, but noted that fairly good weather has been prevailing this week.