Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday visited the factories attached to the shuttered Skeldon and Rose Hall estates, after which he told East Canje residents he was advised that the Rose Hall factory is in a good state.
“We are committed to reopening the sugar estates, I want to make that very clear”, Mustapha emphasised as he spoke to Skeldon, Upper Corentyne and East Canje residents yesterday.
He then explained that he visited the Skeldon Estate and Rose Hall Estate where they have identified two former estate managers, one from each locations. These two have been tasked with the creation of two separate plans of action for the estates within a specified time frame.
Mustapha recalled saying that they had done a survey to see exactly “what is there and what are needed.”
He said: “Places like Rose Hall I know for a fact that some part of the cultivation is still active because they are cutting those cane and take it to Albion, so we will have to look at that but just now I was advised that the factory is in a good shape at Rose Hall.”
The minister also visited Reliance, East Canje Berbice, where former sugar workers pleaded with him to look into the management at GuySuCo. In response the minister informed that the entire management team at the various estates will be restructured.
At the Skeldon Estate, Mustapha stated that while he preferred to not go into too much detail since President Irfaan Ali will be speaking about the reopening of the estates in the near future, he would mention that GuySuCo had appointed a team to visit the estates and they have submitted a plan to him.
He disclosed that Vishnu Panday, a former manager, along with a small team, have been appointed to create an action plan for the Skeldon Estate, while former manager Aaron Dukhia and a team were appointed to create the action plan for Rose Hall Estate.
“He has a lot of knowledge about this location so he can come up with an immediate plan of action so that we can implement it and bring back this project to a working condition.”
The minister also noted that the persons appointed on the ground would not only have to look at the factory but also do an analysis of the fields and come up with the best plan to get the estate back on its feet. “We would also have to bring in the cane farmers because the cane farmers contribute 33% [to the Skeldon Estate] so we would have to engage the cane farmers together with GuySuCo so that we can have enough cane for the factory.”
Further, the workers also raised the issue of transferred sugar workers and whether they would be given an opportunity to return to the estate closest to them. Mustapha in response acknowledged that that issue would also have to be dealt with.
Meanwhile, the minister was optimistic that with the opening of the sugar estates the village economies within the areas will again become vibrant.
He stressed to the residents throughout the region that it is important that they are working to ensure that GuySuCo not only breaks even but becomes profitable, while declaring that agriculture will remain the backbone of the economy.
Serious questions will be raised about the Skeldon factory which had been producing sugar at an extremely high cost and posed serious financial problems for GuySuCo.
