Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder on Friday told the National Assembly that a major restructuring of the sugar industry is an essential prerequisite for its survival.
“The industry has a rough and rugged road ahead and its future shape would not be known until later in the year. It is incumbent upon all stakeholders, however, to seriously support the efforts to keep the industry alive and it can only be kept alive if it becomes sustainably viable,” he told the National Assembly during his contribution to the debate on Budget 2015.
The minister expressed confidence that this year, the sugar industry will undergo a significant turnaround. He cited government’s intention to invest $12 billion into the industry coupled with the recent change of management at the board level and said that the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) should arrive at a turning point in its performance.
Notwithstanding, he emphasised that the parlous state of the sugar industry should not be underestimated. “It is not business as usual and a major restructuring of the industry is an essential prerequisite for its survival. We await the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry,” he asserted.
Holder said that GuySuCo anticipates production of 146,300 tonnes of sugar for the current crop which is expected to take production for the year to just over 227,000 tonnes. “Despite some setbacks occasioned by inclement weather, the corporation is focusing all its efforts to achieve this target. All estates have commenced operation and the initial yields have been encouraging. Worker turnout has been improving and this trend, if maintained, then all will be well for the remainder of the crop,” he said.
The minister further articulated that, “it is not an understatement to say that Skeldon has not functioned to expectation. However, we are of the view that with the completion of the work of the Commission of Inquiry, recommendations made will enable us to address some of the pressing issues affecting the industry.”
Holder said that the recently concluded National Cane Farmers’ Conference at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre highlighted the problems with marketing sugar as well as the quality of canes delivered to the sugar factories. He added that there will soon be the need to review the National Cane Farming Committee Act (1965).
Meantime, former Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Frank Anthony urged absolute commitment to the sugar industry. In his presentation, Anthony avoided calls made by the government side to address the issues of the Olympic-sized swimming pool at Liliendaal and the synthetic track at Leonora, and chose to focus on the sugar industry. Describing it as worth fighting to have fixed, he urged the new government to take the situation facing the industry seriously.
The PPP/C parliamentarian referred to a national strategy for agriculture for the years 2013-2020, prepared under the former administration and said that the industry is “one of the pillars of our economy.” He highlighted that agriculture constitutes 20% of the economy and accounts for 30% of employment in the country.
“Almost 40% of Guyana’s export earnings comes from agriculture and as we have heard from the Minister of Agriculture, a major percentage comes from sugar and rice, the two pillars of agriculture in Guyana,” Anthony said. The former minister went on to explain that with the exception of Guyana’s indigenous peoples “most of our ancestors were brought here because of sugar, coffee or cotton.”
According to Anthony, the industry has had its fair share of challenges over the years but managed to emerge stronger than before. “I am confident that the issues confronting the industry today can be surmounted, but to do so we must work together,” he asserted.
Quoting a section of Finance Minister Winston Jordan’s budget presentation, Anthony declared that the implication of the sugar industry remaining an uncompetitive producer is frightening. He added that thousands of estate workers are afraid as they are unsure where the government’s policy and plans for the future of sugar industry will leave them.
Anthony said that both workers and stakeholders are hopeful that instead of hearing the “bitter news of closure or privatization, they will hear the better news of sticking with a plan to turn around the sugar industry.” He emphasised that in order to return the sugar industry to its once profitable state, the situation has to be taken seriously.
“Mr Speaker, a few of us were born and raised on sugar estates, we understand what it is to be a sugar worker’s child. We understand the hardships that people on the sugar estate would have to go through and we come to say that if the sugar workers were to lose their jobs that the socio-economic dislocation that would happen to this country would be catastrophic,” he asserted.
Anthony further said that the sugar industry is worth fighting for. “There are some things worth fighting for, there are some sacrifices that we have to make and one of those sacrifices is that we all have to work together to shape the sugar industry,” he said. “Our commitment to protecting the industry must be absolute on both sides of this House,” he added.
