Aquaculture is feasible at the Wales Sugar estate, the Guyana Sugar Corporation said yesterday.
In a statement, GuySuCo was responding to a news item in yesterday’s Stabroek News headlined ‘GuySuCo opted for rice at Wales after aquaculture deemed unsuitable – source’.
GuySuCo in reply said that the consultants who are undertaking the feasibility study have advised the Corporation that aquaculture is feasible at the Wales Estate and the details will be in the completed report.
GuySuCo said it was also very surprised to learn that the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) stated in yesterday’s Stabroek News report that “the union and the workers are important stakeholders and the fact that they were not informed, speaks volumes”. The sugar corporation said this statement by GAWU is not accurate. It said that over the past months the Corporation has been disseminating information on a weekly basis to members of the public, stakeholders and more importantly its employees, on the diversification programme.
It said that this information was shared through the change management and other programmes which includes training sessions on Team Building and Communications; awareness sessions – Putting GuySuCo First, presentations and other fora.
However, despite GuySuCo’s claims, its decision to grow rice at Wales was met with surprise as there had been no announcement of this move or a release of the feasibility report on this. The public became aware of it via the placing of an advertisement seeking a contractor to clear land at Wales.
GuySuCo is to stop cultivating sugar at Wales by the end of this year in a bid to cut costs.
GuySuCo said yesterday that other areas which will form a part of the diversification programme are livestock and dairy farming and fruit crops, among others.
