— as GuySuCo advances mechanisation process
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has defended the Government’s five‑year strategic plan for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), insisting that the sugar industry can return to profitability by 2030 through aggressive mechanisation and factory recapitalisation.
Speaking during the Committee of Supply’s consideration of estimates and expenditure, Mustapha on Tuesday said the plan previously presented before Parliament is designed to “change the modus operandi” of the corporation and put it back on a sustainable footing.
“The five‑year plan is a strategic plan that will work to ensure that GuySuCo goes back to profitability… and we are working towards that, and hopefully we can make a change from this year.”
The Minister reported that over 41 per cent of GuySuCo’s cane cultivation is already mechanised and that the plan envisages a significant step‑up in the coming months.
He said the corporation will acquire new machinery, including billet cutters and planters, with the ultimate objective of moving to fully mechanised planting and harvesting.
“In that plan, you will see new machinery being bought for the next five years… GuySuCo will go full mode. That’s the objective of planting and harvesting mechanically,” the Agriculture Minister said.
Mustapha added that the Government remains committed to reopening closed sugar estates and retaining employment in key sugar‑growing communities.
He acknowledged that maintaining workforces at partially operating estates, such as Enmore and Skeldon, is currently driving up the cost of production, but argued that these are necessary transitional costs while the modernisation programme takes effect.
During his contribution to the Budget Debate last week, Mustapha had told the house the industry is on a path back to profitability, driven by renewed government investment, mechanisation efforts.
The minister said the blueprint will guide the corporation back to profitability by 2030, supported by sustained government funding.
The 2026 budget allocates $13.4 billion to the sugar industry, alongside broader investments in other crops, livestock, and fisheries, as part of a wider “people-centred” approach to agricultural development.
He noted, too, that sugar production had increased to more than 59,000 tonnes in 2025, compared to just over 47,100 tonnes in 2024.
