SOME 100 canecutters have been contracted by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited’s (NICIL) Special Purpose Unit (SPU) on Thursday to harvest cane at the former GuySuCo Rose Hall Estate.

In a statement to the media, the SPU said Rose Hall is one of the estates shuttered by GuySuCo at the end of 2017 and handed over to the SPU for privatisation and/or diversification.

Initial SPU surveys revealed that GuySuCo had left a sugarcane crop in the ground that was going to be ready for harvesting, the statement said.

“The sugarcane in the ground at Rose Hall represented significant value that would be lost if not harvested. The sugarcane at Rose Hall also represented an opportunity for the SPU to produce molasses to help meet local demand in 2018,” the SPU noted.

Meanwhile, as part of the ongoing collaboration between the SPU and GuySuCo, the sugarcane harvested at Rose Hall would be taken to GuySuCo’s Albion factory for crushing.
“The SPU took the decision to contract the Albion factory to crush the sugarcane harvested at Rose Hall since it represented a more cost-effective and efficient option. Crushing at Rose Hall would require capital expenditure to restart the factory and, the assembling of a significant workforce.”

The cane harvesters, who commenced work this week, are expected to harvest 2,300 hectares. They will be paid by the SPU while that money would be recouped from the molasses sales subsequently.

The Rose Hall estate also has 4,300 hectares of sugarcane in the field for the second crop in 2018.