–130 hectares of land prepared for planting, factory being repaired

By Navendra Seoraj
THE shuttered Rose Hall Sugar Estate, since restarting operations about two months ago, has so far created employment for 240 persons, 99 per cent of whom were retrenched when the estate was closed in 2017.

The estate is on course to producing sugar by 2022, but management of the estate has said that the facility will rehire most of its employees by July 2021.
In 2017, the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition Government had announced the closure of several sugar estates across the country, leaving thousands of persons without jobs or sources of income. The move saw four sugar estates being closed and 7,000 sugar workers losing their jobs.

The Rose Hall Estate, prior to its closure, was ‘home’ to some 2,500 sugar workers, but 1,181 of those were retrenched. The remaining workers from the Rose Hall Estate were transferred to Blairmont Estate over in West Coast Berbice and Albion Estate on the Corentyne.

“We have so far employed 240 persons… 99 per cent of them are those who were severed, while two to three were hired outside,” said Manager of the Rose Hall Sugar Estate, Aaron Dukhia, during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, on Tuesday.

The current staff complement is just 10 shy of 250, the projected number of employees for this year.
Dukhia had told this publication that the estate will have about 1,900 workers by July/August 2021, and will have a full complement of 2,500 workers when the estate hires cane harvesters in 2022. Preference will be given to persons who were once employed with the estate.

Workers currently employed with the estate are focusing on tasks which include the planting of feeding materials, which will be used to create more planting materials for cultivation, and preparing the factory for repairs in 2021.

“We have managed to prepare 103 hectares of land and that is because of the rain, there was a cut…that is now being prepared for planting to start at the end of January,” said Dukhia, adding: “Well that plant will be used for feeding material for the second crop planting of 2021…we will prepare land and cane next year for sugar production in 2022.”

Regarding work on the factory, the estate manager said they have started to “loose down” sections in preparation for “major repairs” next year.
Close to $700 million will be spent on the facility by February, but management of the estate is anticipating limited expenditures because they have already reduced the tillage programme.

“Right now we are busy with the factory, rehabilitation of the structures, looking at housing for staff and we are busy getting up the bill of quantities for a lot of structures, with the hope that come next year, we can get work started,” said Dukhia.

The new Government of Guyana has already released $3B to GuySuCo, of which $2.2B will be used for re-opening of the three estates and the remaining $0.8B will be used to re-capitalise the current assets to help achieve outlined objectives.

The Rose Hall Sugar Estate alone is capable of producing up to 38,000 tonnes of sugar, but the acting CEO had said the estate will be starting the “first grinding year” (2022) with about 8,000 to 10,000 tonnes of sugar. And, as cultivation increases, production will be ramped up to 38,000.

Guyana, in the past, had depended heavily on revenue from sugar, which was one of the country’s largest income earners until it started ‘drowning’ in debt. The industry became insolvent mainly because the cost of production was higher than the market price for the commodity.

It was reported in the past that GuySuCo produced sugar at an average cost of US$0.35 per pound while world market prices have averaged US$0.16 per pound.

Although the sugar industry has been considered a liability for years, the new People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administration is hoping to “lift the industry from the ashes.”