Feasibility studies for aquaculture were conducted at the Wales Sugar Estate as part of its diversification plan but a source said the conditions were unsuitable causing GuySuCo to proceed with rice cultivation instead.
The source who is attached to the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers’ Union (GAWU), said water testing was conducted by a Canadian company.
He is not aware if any testing was conducted on the soil for the growing of rice but said he learnt about the rice venture through an advertisement GuySuCo placed
During last week, GuySuCo published in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle an invitation for bids for clearing to be done on 484 acres of land, out of 3000 acres, on the former sugar plots.
The Engineering Services Department (ESD) of GuySuCo stated in the advertisement that the land was “required to be cleared of all vegetation to facilitate laser land leveling for rice cultivation.”
The advertisement is the first tangible announcement as it relates to the fate of the Wales estate where sugar cultivation is to end this year. Some workers have already opted for severance and others are awaiting GuySuCo’s diversification plans.
The GAWU representative recalled that GuySuCo had cited many reasons behind the planned closure of the Wales estate, with one being the deplorable condition of the bridges.
He said though, that “they said the bridges are not good for sugar cultivation but yet they bring a 21-tonne machine to cross them.”
The GAWU representative said that after sitting in the estate’s compound for about a month because of inclement weather, two heavy-duty machines have finally started work in the field.
President of GAWU, Komal Chand, told Stabroek News that GuySuCo, at a meeting on January 20, had told members that it would “get into some new ventures,” but the company has not gotten back to them.
He said this is the first diversification venture that the company would take on and GAWU hopes that the requisite study was done to prove that the land is suitable for rice cultivation.
Chand said too that “the union and the workers are important stakeholders” and the fact that they were not informed, speaks volumes.
Chand said “we have witnessed their advertisement inviting bids” and questioned: “how can they spend taxpayers’ money on such a big venture and not inform us?” Rice production has boomed in recent years though this year the acreage under cultivation has decreased. It is unclear whether current sugar workers will be offered plots to grow rice or be hired to do so.
The price that paddy/rice would be sold for would be an issue as since the loss of the Venezuelan rice market, growers have had to settle for lower returns. Critics have also said that GuySuCo has to look for foreign exchange earners and rice may not be a viable option as there is already a lot of competition on the market.
During an interview with this newspaper in July, GuySuCo Finance Director, Paul Bhim had said that a feasibility study was being done for aquaculture and that it would hopefully be completed by the beginning of October.
He had said too that feasibility studies, which may be ready by next year, were also being done for cattle, milk and dairy production while GuySuCo would also be looking at rice and several other crops.
In that way, he had said, they are hoping to “sustain the employment we had with sugar” but noted that “a lot of training would be required because there would be a few new skills and they are quite prepared to do that.”
Meanwhile, Chand said: “We must not fail to recognize that aquaculture, rice and dairy cattle were experimented before in the late 70s and 80s” and proved to be unsuccessful.
According to him, the late President Desmond Hoyte opened the Versailles Dairy Farm in 1985 after he was sworn in to office and it was subsequently scrapped. He said the government had ventured into cheese production but large slabs of cheese had to be buried because “they were not coming out in a wholesome way.” He said too that the cost to produce the cheese was higher than the cost to import.
According to him, the project “was a failure… and the cattle wasn’t properly cared for. They were not beef cattle, they were for dairy and they [government] had to take care of lactating calves but they were neglected.”
He pointed out too that, “The cost for providing services for the animals and the maintenance of the huge milking plants was too much. And the money went down the drain.”
Nevertheless, he said, “If they [GuySuCo] want to try again to make these ventures successful, they should discuss with us so we can see how better management can be put in place to avoid those pitfalls.”
