–Or is it a deliberate ploy?
BASED on the recent statements made by the AFC and APNU, Old Kai is convinced there exists a sinister plot against the sugar industry.This could only be construed as an effort to undermine current plans to revitalise this vital industry.

Is it possible for the opposition leadership to be so clueless about the sugar industry that the average Guyanese seems to have a better understanding than the opposition leadership has about the dynamics of sugar to our economy and its future prospects?

Why would they want to convert to fish ponds fertile agriculture lands which have already been developed for agriculture, when there are thousands of acres of accessible land that are vacant and would be better suited for aquaculture, needing significantly less development?

It is no surprise that such an idea is being advanced by the opposition point man on agriculture, Anthony Vieira, who inherited the legacy and assets of his father. Joe contributed immensely to the history of sugar production in Guyana, but what has Anthony Vieira got to show of this rich legacy today? This is the man who sold his television station and property on the West Bank of Demerara as he was migrating to North America, only to return to Guyana a few years later and attack his former business partner.

Guyanese should take a hint in the fact that the sugar cultivations Mr. Anthony Vieira was associated with are now all abandoned. I am not insinuating he is responsible for this reality, but when he boasts about his expertise, he must also note this fact.

Another fact which has captured my attention is his cozying up once again with the PNC/R and, by extension, APNU under the leadership of David Granger. This is the very Vieira who has been reported by the media as stating on April 15, 2011 that the party’s Presidential Candidate, Mr. David Granger, is “not right” for the party. Yet, he is now acting as the mouthpiece of the very individual that he had deemed unfit for leadership.

The contradictions do not end there. The PNC/R had issued a press release in early January 2010 announcing the resignation from Parliament of Vieira, and thanking him for his services to the party. However, more than a year later, Vieira was quoted as saying, “I never joined the PNC, I was in a coalition with them on the One Guyana platform because of my personal popularity with you the public, but I had great difficulty working with them.”

Today it appears he has no difficulty working with them again to undermine the sugar industry.

Let us also bear in mind that while the idea of these fish ponds might sound grand to the opposition, they have not articulated how the integrity of this vast area will be protected. Fishermen and vendors might soon find themselves out of business, as it would be virtually impossible to protect against illegal fishing from these ponds.
In fact, we might very well see a number of fish exporters appearing suddenly.

The idea advanced by the opposition about ethanol production is not entirely without merit, but it has never been their idea. This plan for ethanol production was encapsulated in the strategic vision of GuySuCo several years ago, way before the AFC belatedly came out with their cockamamie plan, which they never lose an opportunity to tout.

President Donald Ramotar, then a Board Member of GuySuCo, had always advanced this idea, along with improving the co-generation capacity of all the factories. It is thus no surprise that it was President Ramotar who commissioned a Bioethanol Demonstration plant at the Albion Estate in August, 2013 and it was reaffirmed that ‘ethanol production was part of GuySuCo’s strategic plan’.

So for APNU and the AFC to now pretend that they came up with this great idea of ethanol production is misleading the public.

However, there are certain factors which do not add up, based on what the opposition has told us. It is common knowledge that a majority of the problem currently plaguing the industry is in the field, not in the factory. Weather being a significant factor, along with agronomic practices, which are intertwined. So, even if we invest resources in large-scale ethanol plants, we will still face the same problem in cane supply.

Hence the approach by GuySuCo is to focus on mechanization to improve production in the fields, while at the same time reconfiguring the remaining estate lands for machine harvesting. GuySuCo has already achieved a great deal in this area, with Enmore leading the way in this regard.

What the APNU and AFC are guilty of is looking at sugar production in isolation to advance their agenda.
These are the people who have attacked the PPP/C Government for providing much needed resources through budgetary allocations to advance this modernisation plan by GuySuCo, which is the only way to increase production; but on the other hand, they want Government to rush head-on to invest resources in ethanol production without still looking at correcting the deficiencies in the field.
Clearly, such a plan is bound to fail, and when it does, the opposition will then use this to attack the Government and justify the closure of the industry.

The PPP/C has a duty to resist, at all costs, these harebrained schemes of the APNU and AFC, and continue to provide resources for the sugar industry to focus on getting the basics in production right again; by which time we would have gained from the testing facility at Albion sufficient experience in the area of ethanol production to direct future financial resources into a phased implementation of factories which can produce both ethanol and sugar, as is the case in neighbouring Brazil.

Old Kai remains firm in his conviction that the industry would certainly die with the plans advanced by the opposition, who have stated publicly that workers in the industry are ‘not their concern’, but rather that of the PPP/C.