— recapitalisation of estates ongoing says ‘agri’ minister

By Navendra Seoraj

THE ascension of Guyana’s ailing sugar industry will undoubtedly take time, but the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, remains confident that progress in this industry is inevitable with prudent management and targetted approaches like those being adopted by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), which has set a production target of close to 98,000 metric tonnes for this year.
Laden with deficits, the sugar corporation, has for years, been struggling to even break-even, requiring constant bailouts and injections of finances to stay afloat, a situation which the new People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government is looking to remedy through the recapitalisation of estates, strategic reopening of shuttered factories and public-private partnerships.

Equally important in preparing those estates for profitability is maintaining productivity and satisfying the demand for sugar. In order to achieve this objective, the three functioning estates – Blairmont, Albion and Uitvlugt – will be working to produce collectively 98,000 metric tonnes of sugar by the end of this year.

In providing a disaggregation of the production target, Minister Mustapha said that the corporation will be looking to produce 48,963 metric tonnes of sugar at Albion, 27,940 metric tonnes at Blairmont, and 20,517 metric tonnes at Uitvlugt. The consolidated target is more than that of 2020, which was 89,000 metric tonnes.

Possible deterrents to the achievement of those targets, as seen in the past, include mainly, but are not limited to, inclement weather and industrial action. Moving ahead, while trying to navigate the potential adversities, the corporation will also be working expeditiously on the recapitalisation of the sugar estates.

“The plan is to recapitalize; as I said when I asked for the supplementary [financing], we intend on doing critical repairs on equipment that were neglected over the past five years,” Minister Mustapha said during a recent interview with the Sunday Chronicle.

It was reported that repairing Guyana’s ‘damaged’ and ‘neglected’ sugar industry will be a tall task, but it is one which the government has shown it is ready to take on and accomplish successfully, said Minister Mustapha, as he made his case to the Committee of Supply for supplementary financing of $4 billion for GuySuCo, in December. In presenting a breakdown of the supplementary allocation, the minister said $2.1 billion will go towards Albion Estate; $518 million to the Blairmont Estate; $60 million to Uitvlugt Estate; $10 million to Skeldon Estate; $746 million to Rose Hall Estate; $533 million to Enmore Estate and $60 million for the head office.

Prior to receiving supplementary funds, the government had included in Budget 2020, $3 billion, of which $800 million went towards supporting the operating factories and $2.2 billion towards the shuttered Rose Hall, Enmore and Skeldon sugar estates.

“All of this [financing] is necessary because a lot of work has to be done…over at Albion, the entire carriage and the chain and roller have to be changed…a lot of work is also needed at Uitvlugt and Blairmont. The focus would be to recapitalise and repair the estate, in order to increase production and productivity,” Minister Mustapha reasoned.

He further said that the corporation is working simultaneously on the reopening of the shuttered estates.
“There has been increased activity to reopen those three estates… works are moving apace and according to plan.”

In 2017, the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government announced the closure of several sugar estates across the country; the move saw four sugar estates being closed, and 7,000 sugar workers losing their jobs.
But, as said by Minister Mustapha, plans are afoot to return the industry to viability through coordinated and prudent management.
“We have already employed 1,000 persons who they [APNU+AFC] dismissed. And, in the New Year [2021], we will employ another 3,000 workers and I am optimistic that, in the first crop of 2022, we will produce sugar once again at those estates.

“They [APNU+AFC] have brought the estates to their knees, so we have to capitalise and bring the estates to a break-even point… there are opportunities in the Caribbean and it will also create more employment for the people,” said the Agriculture Minister.
The Rose Hall Estate will be the first of the three estates to be reopened and is expected to begin grinding in 2022.