Government today announced that while it would be retaining sugar production as the core function of GuySuCo at three factories it would be divesting the remaining parts and would be inviting expressions of interest in this process.
Agriculture Minister Noel Holder, reading this afternoon from the administration’s White Paper on the future of the industry, told the National Assembly that at the end of the year, the corporation will have three factories and five cultivating sites.
The three factories are Albion/Rose Hall, Blairmont and Uitvlugt/Wales. This formula sees the amalgamation of Albion and Rose Hall and Uitvlugt and Wales. Enmore would be closed at the end of the year.
Additionally, Holder said while the corporation will retain as many workers as needed, employees would be leased land to engage in crops which will be decided by the corporation and the Ministry of Agriculture.
He said that a corporate vehicle will be established to manage the process of divestment on a full-time basis. The corporation proposes pending action on divestment to proceed with a series of actions “intended to reduce the financial burden of the corporation.”
The minister noted that the sugar corporation’s production in 2016 fell by 18.7 per cent and foreign exchange earned by the crop was 15 per cent.
“This poor performance follows a pattern of inconsistent output in which the average annual output of sugar declined by 14 per cent between 2006 and 2015,” the minister said.
He also stated that the corporation had indicated that it needed $17 billion over the next four years to keep the estates open, an expenditure the government would be hard pressed to justify.
