–cites zero variance in latest stock count
THE Ministry of Agriculture has rejected allegations by Member of Parliament Vinceroy Jordan that millions of dollars’ worth of agrochemicals has disappeared from the Uitvlugt Estate bond, saying the most recent physical stock count found no variance.
Jordan had said that the government, the ministry, and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) should “come clean” over the alleged losses.
In a statement responding to him, the ministry has called the claim “an unverified allegation” made without “a single figure, a single document or a single check against the records”.
The ministry said herbicides at Uitvlugt are held in the general stores-controlled bond, which operates on a dual-locking system. Stores personnel cannot open it without security, and security cannot open it without stores personnel, so no single person can enter alone.
According to the ministry, an electronic requisition approved by the Agriculture Manager must be completed before any herbicide is issued.
Issues are made daily in the presence of the farm manager, the field superintendent, and security staff, and each one is recorded.
Only one day’s supply, equal to a day’s work for the chemical weed control area, is moved into the day bond at a time.
Usage is monitored and recorded daily, and unused chemicals returned from the field are logged by the superintendent in charge, and by security.
Issues to cane farmers are made only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The hard-copy requisition must be signed by the Cane Farming Manager, the Agriculture Manager, the Finance Manager, and the Estate Manager, the Ministry said.
Every Thursday, the Stores Superintendent, the Superintendent in charge of chemical weed control and security jointly carry out a physical count of the stock. The latest count, on Thursday, October 29, found no variance, the Ministry said, adding that the records are available.
“For agrochemicals to ‘disappear’, the stores, security, field supervision, senior management and finance would all have to collude, and the records would still expose them,” the ministry said.
SOURCE OF ALLEGATION
The ministry said the allegation appears to have originated with an individual who is the subject of an internal administrative matter at the estate.
It said it would not “try that matter in the press”, but argued that a claim aimed at senior management by someone facing internal action must be weighed against documented evidence.
It added that no worker will be victimised for raising a genuine concern, but that “raising a concern is not the same as proving one”.
The ministry did not rule out room for improvement. It said management has reminded all security personnel of the importance of complete and accurate record-keeping, and that any documentation lapses will be dealt with administratively.
This, it said, shows a functioning system tightening its own discipline, “not evidence that chemicals have gone missing”.
The ministry placed the latest exchange in a pattern of disputes with Jordan. It said that in July 2024, it dismissed his claims about Inclusion Body Hepatitis in the poultry industry.
In September 2024, the MMA/ADA rejected as false his Facebook claims of a “massive corruption scheme” and an “impending cover-up”, and the Authority’s Vice-Chairman indicated he would take legal action.
That same month, GuySuCo described his claim of “missing sugar” at Rose Hall as “a reckless exaggeration, full of misinformation, and devoid of facts”. In March 2026, the ministry again corrected statements by Jordan about State lands along the Mahaicony corridor.
“The script never changes: An unnamed source, a sensational figure, a demand that the Government ‘come clean’, and no evidence,” the ministry said.
The ministry also criticised the Opposition’s record on the sugar industry. It said the APNU+AFC administration closed the Wales, East Demerara, Rose Hall and Skeldon Estates, affecting 7,047 workers; 5,262 permanent workers who were severed, and 1,785 temporary workers.
It said this was done even though the administration’s own Commission of Inquiry had not recommended those closures at the time.
Citing official statistics, the ministry said the real value of agriculture, forestry, and fishing fell from about G$224.9 billion in 2015 to G$192.2 billion in 2020, a drop of G$32.7 billion. Since 2020, it said, the sector has more than doubled, to roughly G$437 billion.
The ministry said the PPP/C Government has since restored estates, re-engaged workers, and invested in mechanisation, which now covers more than 41 per cent of cultivation, against a target of 50 to 60 per cent. It said sugar output rose 19.3 per cent in the first half of 2026, and that the minister has stressed that managers must be more accountable.
“The ministry will not allow unverified claims to damage the reputation of estate staff, or to undermine confidence in an industry that thousands of Guyanese families depend on,” the statement concluded.
