The first crop of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) estates saw a shortfall of 23,000 tonnes from the production target of 80,270, largely as a result of the El Nino dry weather conditions.
Errol Hanoman, GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer told Stabroek News that the “drought had a severe impact on the [first] crop” but he was happy that the recent rains had brought some relief.
He said the Skeldon, Wales and Uitvlugt estates were the first to close and that the others were expected to conclude within a few days.
The completion of the first crop, which is normally smaller than the second, would make way for out-of-crop maintenance of the factory and field infrastructure and husbandry.
According to Hanoman “Now that the rain has started, it would augur well for the second crop, which is expected to begin in mid-July. He is confident that the projected target of 159,000 tonnes would be achieved.
“We did well in the second crop last year and we expect to do well for this one too,” noting that the corporation had exceeded its target of 149,000 tonnes by over 8,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile, as regards individual targets, this newspaper learnt that out of a total of 10,000 tonnes, Skeldon only produced half of that amount while Wales produced 5,000 of its 8,000 tonnes target with Uitvlugt achieving its 7,000 tonnes target.
A source from the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) said that the Blairmont and Uitvlugt estates were the least affected by the drought.
In spite of the fact that El Nino affected the crop, the source is of the view that GuySuCo did not cultivate the adequate amount of cane to meet the target.
