Written By Vanessa Narine
THE second sugar crop has been “largely a good one,” according to Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who noted that to date production stands at 105,000 tonnes.

Speaking to the media yesterday, he dismissed a November 5th article published by the Kaieteur News under the headline “GuySuCo sliding to worst performance in 20 years”.
Ramsammy said: “I do not know that is true…the second crop for sugar had been largely a very good one, past 105,000 tonnes, which is more than twice the production of the first crop.”
WEATHER INSECURITY
The minister maintained that the sector’s challenge continues to be weather and the difficulties the sector faces in adapting to a “weather insecurity” that has evolved quite rapidly in Guyana and around the world.
He said: “Guyana used to have two wet and two dry seasons of a particular length, very regular and now we don’t have that. Sugar requires a period of 14 to 20 weeks of completely dry weather during grinding and we don’t have that.”
According to him, the sugar sector will have to find an answer on how it will adjust.
Ramsammy said: “Sometimes people talk about factories and about management, but we saw it last year and we see it this year, when you have good weather, you have good production.
“To address production numbers the industry must find an answer to the changing weather pattern that is creating major challenges for the sector.”
He added that the Skeldon factory is functioning and most of the issues existing during the last crop have been addressed.
However, Ramsammy made it clear that the optimal functioning of Skeldon was meant to be achieved in time, by 2016.
Asked about the target this year, Ramsammy stated that while the adjusted target was 238,000 tonnes, from the onset this was something he was not sure the sector could meet, and currently the ministry is looking at what numbers the sector will see come year-end.