PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali’s strong warning to GuySuCo’s management is a crucial shift in Guyana’s strategy for reviving its sugar industry.

With the corporation finishing 2025 at 59,200 tonnes, below its lowered goal of 60,000 tonnes, the government’s patience has understandably worn thin. The message is clear: continued public investment must show tangible results and underperformance will no longer be accepted.

The figures reveal a troubling pattern of ongoing mismanagement veiled as progress. When a corporation starts the year aiming for 80,000 tonnes, lowers its goal to 70,000, then further lowers it to 60,000, only to miss that target, there is more at play than just operational issues.

Weather problems and labour shortages are real challenges, but they do not completely excuse management’s lack of accountability.

Since 2020, the government has invested over $40 billion in revitalising the industry, directing billions each year to mechanisation, infrastructural upgrades and field enhancements.

Yet, these investments have produced lower returns than expected.

However, the government’s accountability framework needs to look beyond the estates themselves.

The President’s plan to seek international technical support and engage more with private cane farmers shows an understanding that real change, not just administrative pressure, is needed.

These efforts deserve careful optimism. The mechanisation improvements seen in 2025, which include a 29 per cent rise in cane yields and the highest level of mechanisation in GuySuCo’s history, suggest there is potential for real recovery.

The challenge now is to convert these technical gains into steady, measurable production increases without further target changes.

As Guyanese look to 2026, they deserve more than stern warnings. They need a realistic, credible path to recovery that openly acknowledges past failures, sets clear success metrics, and holds everyone accountable for poor performance, from estate managers to senior government officials.

The sugar industry is essential for regional livelihoods and national GDP, but investment without results, and promises without accountability, will only worsen the crisis.

President Ali’s warning shows that this chapter of excuses must end. What remains to be seen is whether the government is ready to take responsibility for creating the right conditions for estates to succeed.