THE Rose Hall Sugar Estate is on track to recommence operations from the second crop next year, with some 2,000 hectares of land having been already cultivated.

This is according to Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha in his response to questions on a further $1 billion allocation to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) for operational expenses.

The Agriculture Minister explained that the money will be spent on rehabilitating critical areas in the factories, while enhancing and expanding cultivation in the cane fields.

Of the total sum, Albion Sugar Estate will receive $363 million, Blairmont estate $76 million and Rose Hall estate $561 million.

The $1 billion is part of an overall $3 billion requested by the Ministry of Agriculture in the $44.44 billion supplementary financing that was passed by the National Assembly on Monday.

Minister Mustapha explained that much funding was needed to put new lands back into cultivation as part of the government’s commitment to returning the sugar industry to viability, given the socio-economic benefits that the estates provide.

The minister noted that under the APNU+AFC administration, some 23,000 hectares of the sugar estate’s lands were abandoned, as four estates were shuttered.

Under the APNU+AFC administration also, some 7,000 persons were ‘put on the breadline’ when they closed the Wales, Rose Hall, East Demerara (Enmore) and Skeldon Estates. During the 2020 election campaign, the current administration had promised to re-open the estates due to the socio-economic benefits they provide; Rose Hall was slated as the first to be re-opened.

The once bustling Canje, East Berbice area which was reduced to a ghost town with the estate’s closure is now slowly returning to some level of normalcy, as 1,200 residents from the community are already employed. With the opening date fast approaching, the numbers that are employed will continue to grow, and many are hoping the community can be returned to its former glory days.