The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) announced on Monday that it is on track to achieve its 68,045-tonne target for the second crop.
In a statement, GuySuCo stated that the three estates – Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt – have been performing “satisfactorily” for the second crop of the year so far.
It said the Albion Estate has not only achieved but exceeded its weekly performance production targets for five of its seven weeks of grinding.
For the Blairmont Estate, two of the eight grinding weeks’ targets were achieved and surpassed while Uitvlugt Estate has surpassed and achieved one of its week’s production target while grinding for six weeks.
“Despite some challenges in the Corporation, the management and staff on estates have remained focused and are working tirelessly towards achieving the target of 68,045 tonnes of sugar for the second crop,” the statement said, while adding that the target for the Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt estates are 38,160, 19,105, and 10,780 tonnes of sugar, respectively.
“The management wishes to express its gratitude to all stakeholders; including the unions, residents, community groups and leaders, who have been supportiang the Estates and the Corporation and to request that this support be continued throughout the rest of the crop,” the statement said.
It added that the achievement of weekly production targets means that employees will be receiving weekly production incentives based on the number of weeks that the targets were reached.
The sugar company had only produced 34,450 tonnes of sugar for its first crop this year, out of a production target of 36,150 tonnes.
According to figures that were provided by the Guyana Agricul-tural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the three functioning estates fell short of their target by 1,655 tonnes of sugar. While the Albion and Blairmont estates did not achieve their targets, the Uitvlugt Estate surpassed its goal.
According to the data, the Albion estate’s target for the first crop was set at 19,698 tonnes of sugar but it was only able produce 18,232 tonnes of sugar, despite working one week over its schedule. The Blairmont estate’s target was set at 9,736 tonnes of sugar but it was only able to produce 9,121 tonnes of sugar, despite working three weeks beyond its schedule.
Last year, GuySuCo fell short of the projected figure for its first crop by some 24,566 tonnes.
The Corporation had set a target of 74,172 tonnes of sugar but was only able to produce 49,606 tonnes.
In 2016, GuySuCo also fell short of its first crop target after it was only able to produce 56,825 tonnes of sugar from a projected figure of 80,270 tonnes, a difference of 23,445 tonnes. GuySuCo had said in a release that the shortfall in 2016 was due substantially to the El Niño weather conditions, which severely dried out the canes, drastically constrained cane growth and led to lower sugar content.
Following the closure of the Wales estate on the West Bank Demerara when the second crop ended in December 2016, the remaining six estates continued the production of sugar. The target set for the four estates in Berbice was 53,800 tonnes in the first crop but they produced a total of 36,479 tonnes, a difference of 17,321 tonnes.
Albion estate produced 18,325 tonnes from its target of 20,291 tonnes while Blairmont made 9,065 tonnes out of a projected 11,676 tonnes.
Rose Hall estate produced 9,989 tonnes of sugar out of the target of 12,962 tonnes, while the Skeldon estate ended the crop with 8,881 tonnes.
In the case of the Demerara estates, for the first crop of 2016, the production figure at Enmore was 6,072 tonnes out of a target of 12,033 tonnes and Uitvlugt produced 7,045 tonnes compared to its target of 8,339 tonnes.
