Dear Editor,
Minister Joe Harmon recently announced that a White Paper detailing government’s future plans for the sugar industry will be laid in the National Assembly. Casting himself in the role of an Oracle the Minister predicted that the debate will be “robust.”
Long before Harmon’s announcement, certain high government officials had already begun pointing to government’s intentions with respect to the future of Guyana’s sugar industry.
Prominent among them was former PPP executive committee member now Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.
Speaking at a National Cane Farmers Conference held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre held in 2015, Nagamootoo said;
“Government sees sugar as too big to fail.”
And as though he hadn’t pontificated enough Mr. Nagamootoo added;
“Our cost of production is high but despite this we still have hope that the industry would improve and eventually succeed.”
Mr Nagamootoo’s presentation was superficial to say the least. It lacked a people-centred, developmental orientation and concentrated on a governmentalist defensive approach fundamentally technical in nature.
This turned out to be the line of march adopted by certain government representatives who ventured into a particular sugar estate in a brazen attempt to cajole sugar workers into believing that government’s plans were in the workers’ best interests.
Everybody knows that while the debate on the ‘White Paper’ in the National Assembly is likely to be “robust” indeed, with the government benches being in the majority the ‘White Paper’s passage is a foregone conclusion.
This notwithstanding, there is a general expectation that the White Paper is expected to bring out the ‘devil in the details’. And that in turn should reveal the government’s big picture as far as sugar’s future in Guyana is concerned.
One thing is clear however, and that is that all the talk by government about sugar being too big to fail is duplicitous if not deceptive. The government has made no secret of its future plans for the sugar industry.
Divestment/privatisation/public-private sector partnership/ as well as outright sale of canes, factories and equipment are on the cards.
However, ownership of estate lands and canals is not clear.
The cloven hooves of the government was exposed by the Minister of Agriculture when he let the cat out of the bag by inadvertently revealing that a Trinidad-based company had already submitted a business plan for one of the sugar estates.
This revelation coupled with the evasive posture adopted by the government delegation during the all party talks on the future of the sugar industry at the Ministry of Agriculture put paid to any fruitful results emanating from that engagement.
The care-free, dilettante attitude of the ministerial delegation notwithstanding, GAWU nevertheless, thought it fit to submit its proposals following consultations with its membership.
The plot thickened with the presidential announcement to the effect that government plans to keep only three sugar estates namely; Blairmont, Albion and Uitvlugt.
Eleven grinding sugar-factories in Guyana, were reduced to eight now we are down to three. This persistent erosion within the industry took place under PNC and now APNU+AFC administrations. Not a single factory was closed under the PPP/C.
The claim that this took place has been debunked ad nauseam.
Thus, it has become clear that the Granger administration has already determined, long before its White Paper is laid in the National Assembly, that sugar is indeed not too large to fail and as a consequence, Rose Hall, Skeldon, Enmore and Wales will have to go.
The question is whether government’s perceived failure of sugar would cause the entire economy to plunge further into the doldrums having regard to what Nagamootoo himself had openly confessed viz;
“GuySuCo contributes significantly to the country’s economy and society to such an extent that the nation’s economic fortunes are inextricably linked with that of sugar.”
Several well informed authorities have complained about the total absence of any published scientific study/documentation describing the socio-economic impact following the closure and/or privatization of the industry.
With closure, thousands of workers will be thrown onto the breadline.
Nagamootoo had said that sugar; “is still a big source for job creation for many, and as such, it is not something to dissolve.”
There is a certain feeling in the air that reeks of targeted discrimination and an outright attempt to weaken, if not destroy the militant GAWU.
All the talk about lowering cost of production and making sugar competitive in the world market is just what it is; mere talk. Where is the economic/ financial homework to justify such assertions?
What is certain however, is that the country will experience an even greater foreign exchange shortage, currency vulnerability will become the order of the day, the gross domestic product will be reduced and the country will be unable to meet its foreign reserve targets.
Government is moving inexorably down a slippery hill at a time when the international situation is characterized by grave uncertainties.
With the Sugar Protocol and EU sugar quotas out of the window, Guyana has much to worry about.
Czarnikow’s possible involvement in the administrative/managerial arrangements of Guyana’s future sugar industry is highly questionable given that that company’s historical relationship with GuySuCo was strictly limited to marketing of Guyana’s sugar on the world market. That is precisely where Czarnikow’s strength is.
The question is; how much sugar is there to market much less to do so competitively?
Assuming a total of 198.4 thousand tonnes of sugar is available, approximately, 25 thousand tonnes should be assigned for local consumption. ( In 2003, it was 24.5K tonnes).
Of the remaining 173.4 thousand tonnes, 12 thousand tonnes should go to the US market under the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) System.
Incidentally, Guyana’s annual TRQ allocation has been twelve (12) thousand tonnes for many years.
Of the remaining 161.4 thousand tonnes, approximately 130 thousand tonnes would be shipped to the EU market
The remaining 31.4 thousand tonnes should go to CARICOM, our natural market based on good customer service and the reliable supply of high quality sugar.
Twelve years ago, Guyana was shipping one hundred thousand tonnes of sugar to the CARICOM market, currently Guyana ships a mere 15 thousand tonnes to just a few CARICOM countries.
Given the prevailing regional and extra-regional uncertainties with Brexit earlier mentioned as well as the precarious economic situation within CARICOM it is quite possible that Guyana could end up with approximately 146.4 thousand tonnes of sugar in its hands.
The vigilant attitude and vigorous protest actions and public meetings organized by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) in defence of sugar workers is commendable.
As we approach May Day 2017 the cry of the sugar workers must be supported by workers and farmers across Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee
