Introduction
As testimony to the present dire state of Guyana’s sugar industry and its continued importance to the socioeconomic, political, and cultural life of the country, last week I began a third series of columns on this topic in the space of only three years. There I asserted the industry had reached a point of no return, or alternately a negative tipping-point. This week I shall address the question: what do these descriptors seek to convey?
My response is straightforward: basically the point of no return is that point in time where the industry’s critical mass provides a clearly identifiable irreversible negative moment in its life cycle. As a rule at that point the industry should not be allowed to continue in its present configuration. The reason for this assertion is that the sum of the forces in support of the industry (which is its total internal and external momentum and inertia) does not have the capability of sustaining its operation