Dear Editor,
Page 64 of the GuySuCo Commission of Inquiry report at paragraph 4 states “The production cost data also indicate that at prices for raw sugar, it would be cheaper for the Wales factory to purchase cane from farmers than to cultivate its own cane. Even with the increased production of cane by 2020 that there would be insufficient cane in the West Demerara to satisfy the complete requirements for two factories. It is recommended that a formal evaluation of the financial implications for GuySuCo and the farmers of transferring all of the Wales cane supply to farmers.” Page 64, paragraph 5 noted, “The beneficial cost impacts of mechanization on various operations are already being reflected in the Industry Management Accounts.”
There is it! Private cane farmers at Wales – the largest group of private cane farmers in the country ‒ are producing cane at a lower cost than government-run GuySuCo with all its advantages of billion dollar bailouts, subsidies, concessions, heavy equipment and other resources. It is shameful that in this push to reduce GuySuCo’s production cost at Wales, this government has rejected private cane farmers and has not leased its land to private cane farmers as recommended by its own Commission of Inquiry. The Wales private farmers told the CoI they wanted to lease the estate’s lands. They are already planting cane on adjacent land. Just the mere act of leasing all of Wales’ land to these farmers would generate economies of scale payoffs and would likely lower the cost of sugar in the Wales area even further. Add just a fraction of the subsidies GuySuCo receives and incentivize mechanization for private farmers and the private cane farmers at Wales will be producing sugar at a far lower cost than GuySuCo. A reminder: every sugar-producing country enjoys governmental subsidies. In fact, any replacement activity for Wales will enjoy governmental subsidies. With all this compelling evidence pointing to the privatization of Wales, this government has decided to destroy private entrepreneurs (cane farmers) shut down the estate, and possibly leave the lands idle. Any child knows that if the private cane farmers expand cane production, they will require more labour and some of those rendered unemployed by the estate’s closure will find employment with private cane farmers.
Even if the plan is to encourage private farming of other crops to replace Wales and the rest of GuySuCo’s closed operations in the future, which private farmer in this country would want to get in bed with a government that just effectively stymied an existing indigenous private cane farming industry willing to expand? Again, which government in its right mind makes this kind of decision with implications for the entire economy when the country is in the midst of an economic downturn? It seems that nothing was learnt from Jagdeo’s poor decisions that killed private indigenous entrepreneurship, particularly the attempts in the bauxite industry,
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
