As the ailing sugar industry continues to be a major campaign issue for next month’s general elections, President Donald Ramotar yesterday announced several aspects of a revival plan to supporters at a rally in the Berbice sugar community of Albion.
Addressing a packed Albion Estate Road crowd, with several thousand in attendance, Ramotar outlined plans which included over $20B over the next five years for the development of the industry, more cogeneration plants that would be installed at other estates to sell power to the national electricity grid, a local sugar refinery, more pronounced research on cane varieties and mechanisation among others.
“It (sugar) needs to be restructured so that we can make it more efficient and valuable so it can continue to help …in the development of Guyana as a whole,” the President stressed while stating that his party has set a goal of some 400,000 tons of sugar to be produced by the time the $20B is spent.
Further, he explained that with an ethanol project showing good prospects, the sugar industry revival plan would include increased production of that biofuel to compensate for lower sugar prices.
Ramotar blamed the ailing industry on the European Union which he said reneged, in 2010, on promises of a sugar agreement that would have seen preferential prices continuing for the sweetener.
“Sugar is going through a difficult time not because of anything internally but because the European Union ended the sugar protocol; where they were supposed to buy at preferential prices,” he said.
His explanation for the failures in the industry seemed to have found favour with crowd, many of whom were transported in from various parts of the country, as they shouted in agreement that the EU was “wicked and want spite we”.
However the EU cut wasn’t the only reason given for the distress faced in the sugar industry as the President also pointed to a labour deficit. He said that with a growth in other sectors, which included a boom in the gold and timber sectors, persons have now moved away from cane harvesting and are now employed in those areas. He believes however that with mechanization that not only the labour gap can be filled but that there will be increased production which in turn will yield profitable financial returns.
“Sugar now has to compete for labour and sometimes labour is short in the industry. To compensate for that we have to do more mechanisation. In the fields, we have to make the fields friendlier to machine use. We have to train our workers so that they can continue to have a good life from the industry,” he said.
“We have to plant more variety of cane to make it more productive and do more research, in that regard. More investment in our factories so that we have greater recovery of the sugar from the fields itself,” he added.
He informed that he has the support of the government of India, explaining that at a meeting last January with that country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, he was promised both technical and financial assistance for the sugar sector.
“When I was speaking to PM Modi it was your faces that came in front of me…we are already sure that we will secure financial and technical cooperation from India to raise the efficiency of this Industry for it to continue to grow”, Ramotar posited.
Making reference to the growing demand for biofuel globally and the research trial of ethanol production at the Albion Plant, Ramotar believes that a lucrative market for the product can be had right in Guyana.
“Right here at Albion we started looking at the production of ethanol…ethanol is important and right in Guyana we have a big market because with (a) 10 percent (blend) you don’t have to make changes on your vehicle …we want to ensure the production so that when the price of sugar is low, like it is now on the world market, we can produce more ethanol for sale and when it is high we can switch back to producing more sugar,” he noted.
Berbicians were also promised an indoor sports and recreational facility that would enable especially youths to garner the training necessary to compete in the international sporting area.
This, he said, will be coupled with a cultural centre in Berbice for the development of the arts among youths there and a deep water harbour that, if found feasible can create thousands of jobs for persons in the county.
It was not all policy development as the President also took personal jabs at the APNU+AFC coalition that went from calling Moses Nagamootoo a “worm” and other disparaging descriptions of David Granger, Cathy Hughes and Khemraj Ramjattan.
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo and Prime Ministerial Candidate Elisabeth Harper also spoke.
However they received contrasting vocal support from attendees as when Jagdeo spoke he commanded their attention and they showered him with loud feedback which made him inaudible at sometimes.
Harper on the other hand seemed to have lost the connection with the grass roots audience.
Persons crossing the Berbice Bridge were allowed a waiver of the toll once they said they were attending the PPP/C meeting. It is unclear who gave permission for this.
