Facing a current shortfall of over 14,000 tonnes from its first crop target, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is banking on the Albion and Blairmont estates to reduce the gap.
When contacted, GuySuCo’s Corporate Communications Manager Audreyanna Thomas told Stabroek News that the two estates are still in the production phase and will continue as long as favourable weather allows.
She noted that the Uitvlugt Estate has completed its first crop and has been able to produce 8,425 tonnes of sugar. At the Albion and Blairmont estates, production stood at some 13,345 and 9,970 tonnes, respectively. The figures from the three estates, Thomas said, represent an overall production of 31,740 tonnes against a target of 46,476 tonnes, putting the company behind by 14,736 tonnes.
“We will continue to grind and hopefully we can reduce the shortfall by a great deal. We haven’t set a date as to when the crop will conclude as the plan is to keep harvesting and grinding while there is still good weather. We want to get as close as possible to the target,” Thomas related.
In 2019, the sugar corporation produced 92,255 tonnes of sugar, falling short of its target of 109,706 tonnes. In the first crop, 33,531 tonnes were produced from a target of 33, 863 tonnes, while the second crop saw production of 58,724 tonnes from a target of 75,843 tonnes.
This crop season was affected by several protests from workers for wages and salary increases and measures implemented by the corporation to deal with COVID-19.
Workers from the Albion Estate had stayed away for at least one week in protest against working in what they called an unhealthy environment due to their concerns about being put at risk for contracting the novel coronavirus disease.
Workers attached to the three operating estates at the start of the year had interrupted their work to express their dissatisfaction with the company’s unwillingness to offer wage or salary increases since 2015.
Workers took part in picketing exercises outside of their respective estates to reiterate their call for pay increases to be no less than 5 per cent and that the pay improvements be retroactive to January 1, 2019.
The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) on Friday announced that it had reached an interim agreement for salary increases for sugar workers with the GuySuCo, although the two sides remain at odds over whether the increases would be retroactive to the start of last year.
GAWU announced that through the agreement, piece-rated workers will be benefitting from a 5% rise in their pay, time-rated workers will receive an increase of $20 per hour, and monthly-paid staffers will receive an increase of $4,100 per month. It also said certain increases have been approved with respect to a number of allowances enjoyed by workers
