Agriculture Minister Noel Holder yesterday told Wales sugar workers that GuySuCo and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) are about to conclude a pact where the GRDB will provide funding for a seed paddy project and in a few days land preparation will restart, allowing them another work option.
The Government and GuySuCo have been under pressure to come up with alternatives for Wales workers following the end of sugar cultivation there last year and at a Cabinet outreach at the Wales Community Centre on the West Bank of Demerara, Holder updated them on the latest plans.
He said that contrary to what is being said, the country is in great need of seed paddy and the government is looking to GuySuCo to produce this as part of a diversification process that will open up jobs for the former Wales sugar workers.
He said a feasibility study for the aquaculture pilot project is due in mid-April and a number of “viable non sugar cane crops and livestock activities have been identified for consideration and some of these will be rolled out in the weeks ahead.
Holder added that a crucial part of the government’s strategy is to lease land to employees to transition them into becoming farmers.
“This will take some time to process, to put the requisite systems in place but we are working to conclude this aspect of the exercise by October, 2017. An EU funded study is shortly to be undertaken”, he stated.
As it relates to private cane farmers, he said that 60% of the canes that previously went to the Wales estate will be milled at Uitvlugt. He said these farms are closer to Uitvlugt and farmers will benefit from reduced transportation costs.
He said that because of wet conditions, work has not commenced as yet on the all-weather road to Uitvlugt and related infrastructure, such as the construction of a tractor and trailer park.
He said that those farmers who find it uneconomical to remain at Wales could be leased lands closer to the Uitvlugt factory. “Indeed, the GuySuCo Board has given its approval for fourteen such farmers to be leased land close to Uitvlugt and other applications are being evaluated,” he said.
Holder told the workers that full to partial divestment of the sugar industry is under consideration, which could see GuySuCo’s involvement limited to sugar production on a few estates.
With sugar cultivation having ended at Wales on December 31st last year, the government is said to be considering the sale of the Skeldon estate and the closure of the ones at Rose Hall and Enmore.
Describing the industry as on life support, Holder detailed a number of reasons for its dire financial plight. He noted that while world market prices for sugar soared in 2012-13, allowing GuySuCo to lock in prices as high as US$650 in 2012 and US$705 in 2013, prices have since crashed and GuySuCo saw prices as low as US$249 and US$311 in 2015.
