EU Ambassador to Guyana, Robert Kopecky has supported the view of union leader Komal Chand that if the sugar industry is to prosper, new ways of doing business have to be found.
Kopecky in an open letter yesterday to the GAWU President was responding to statements made by Chand in the August 19 edition of SN in a news item headed `GAWU wants full info on EU support for sugar’.
The EU envoy said that contrary to Chand’s assertion, since his arrival here in November, 2011, EU press releases on the industry and those jointly issued with the Government of Guyana have “contained full breakdowns of the funding provided to date by the EU as sugar sector policy budget support”. The ambassador attached to the letter four press releases issued since January 30, 2012.
Kopecky went on to say however that he agreed with Chand’s statement that new approaches have to be found for the industry.
Noting that Chand had also voiced the need to know which indicators were set for the receipt of EU funding, how well the industry had lived up to them and how much money might have been lost as a result of the indicators not being met, Kopecky acknowledged that this had not been addressed in the previous press releases.
“Therefore, please know that while the indicators were originally more focused on production, they are now more concentrated on crucial investments in factories, drainage works, mechanisation and capital investment, among others, allowing improved levels of production even during adverse meteorological conditions. Moreover, the programme also provides incentives to increase the involvement of private sugar cane farmers”, Kopecky said.
He added that while the EU would have no difficulty in disclosing which result indicators have been met and which have not, “out of respect for the Government of Guyana’s ownership of this programme I would rather you refer your request to them.”
Given the dire condition of the sugar industry, more and more questions have arisen over how money from the EU to cushion the impact here of reforms to the European sugar market has been spent.
Since 2006, $31.1b has been earmarked for the industry here but it continues to perform dismally and produced the lowest ever first crop in its history this year. The second crop that is underway is also expected to come in significantly below target, threatening the country’s ability to meet the vital EU quota.
The Skeldon sugar factory is still to begin grinding, weeks into the second crop because of weather problems, and it was recently disclosed that US$30m had to be spent to make the much-maligned factory work better. Neither government nor GuySuCo has provided details on this expenditure on the factory which has been plagued by problems since being completed by the Chinese company, CNTIC.
A revised strategic plan for the industry for 2013-2017 is still to be presented by GuySuCo even though nearly eight months of the year have already passed.
At the last signing in June, the ambassador had stated that the EU has always been fully cognizant of sugar’s multifunctional role in Guyana, it being a key contributor to employment, rural stability, the national drainage and irrigation network, social services and GDP. He urged the GoG and GuySuCo to work ardently to meet the 2012 indicators to ensure that the entire sum earmarked for the programme, €23.335M, is released and to continue to modernise the industry and take up the marketing opportunities for raw sugar and its value-added by-products.
The state of the cane fields has also been raised as a cause for the low sugar production and there have been numerous calls for a detailed examination of the estates.
