By Navendra Seoraj

THE recent harsh dry spell (El Niño) is being blamed as the main contributing factor for the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) shortfall in production in the first sugar crop of 2016.
With an initial target of 80,500 tonnes of sugar for the first crop, GuySuCo fell short by 23,000 tonnes due to the dry season, which has affected farmers across the country.
GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Errol Hanoman told the Guyana Chronicle that “the drought has been our main problem, resulting in us having a shortfall.”
The weather has also led to a drop in production from the rice industry as well as cash crop farmers. Thus, the agriculture industry is expected to get back on its feet with the change of weather which is taking place.
Hanoman also made it clear that the recent strikes proved to have minimal impact on sugar production.
“We have lots of cane in the ground to make up back for the loss, so once workers continue to co-operate with us, we’ll get back on track.”
GuySuCo was hit by a number of strikes organised by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) to press for wage negotiations,the Annual Performance Incentives (API) and to fight the announced closure of Wales Estate.
Last year, the corporation had missed its first-crop production target of 86,201, finishing the crop late with a little over 3000 tonnes less.
Nevertheless, it surpassed its 227, 443 tonnes target, and closed its production at 231, 1450 tonnes, while in 2014 the corporation surpassed its target of 75,000 tonnes by 5000 tonnes.
The overall target for this year has been fixed at 240,000 tonnes.
Due to the harsh weather, almost all of the estates have missed their targets, while some of them are continuing to work to reach their marks.
Three of those estates are Blairmont, Rose Hall and Albion. On the other hand, Enmore, Wales and Uitvlugt have closed their production.
Uitvlugt has made modest attempts to achieve its target. The estate missed its target of 8,200 tonnes, finishing its crop with 7,900. The Wales Estate brought in 5,600 tonnes, which is a shortfall from its projected 8,500 tonnes.
In March, Finance Director Paul Bhim had publicised production at 11,243 tonnes.
At that time, Bhim had indicated that the industry was battling its way against the unfavourable weather conditions, while production was encouraging. It was reported that the corporation was controlling water supply.