–President Ali announces

GUYANA’S agricultural sector is set to be catapulted to new heights as President, Dr Irfaan Ali on Saturday revealed that that in two weeks, a project will be launched by a private sector entity to manufacture refined sugar.

During a public meeting at La Grange Village, West Bank Demerara, the Head of State said, “While they [the opposition] don’t have an idea or a clue of how sugar will survive, in two weeks, we will have a project launched in Guyana with a private sector entity that is going to do refined sugar.”

The President noted that 175,000 tonnes of refined sugar will be produced. President Ali had previously noted that by 2027, Guyana could produce and supply enough sugar to meet the demands of the Caribbean region.

“We are ensuring that we build the viability of the sugar sector which require[s] tremendous investment, but we are very confident that Guyana will be in a position in another two years to satisfy the full sugar requirements of this region,” President Ali said.

While emphasising that the government is not overly reliant on the oil and gas sector, he highlighted that significant attention is being given to traditional industries, including sugar, with substantial investments being made.

Last year, mechanisation works began at the Albion Sugar Estate in Berbice, Region Six, with a target to produce over 55,000 tonnes of sugar by 2026. By that year, the Albion Estate is projected to have the capacity to produce more than 55,000 tonnes of sugar.

Additionally, the President announced that the Enmore Sugar Estate is being transformed into a sugar refinery. The proposed Enmore refinery is expected to process 180,000 metric tonnes of sugar annually, and according to President Ali, the government may also explore importing more sugar.

“Whatever we can supply, we’ll supply, then we’ll have to fill the gap so refining will occur here,” he said.

According to President Ali, the private sector is expected to play an active role in spurring this progress, as the refinery will present additional demand for transport and logistics services to fuel its operations.
In 2017, the then APNU-led government had closed several major sugar estates across the country, leaving thousands of persons without jobs. Over 40,000 persons had either directly or indirectly lost sources of income when the estates were closed and investments were stymied.

At the last general and regional elections, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government vowed to reopen these estates and upon assuming office, major investments were made to fulfil the manifesto pledge of rehiring sugar workers and increasing sugar production.

According to recent statistics provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, over 8,000 persons are now employed across the sugar belt.