Over 17,000 varieties of sugarcanes belonging to the Guyana Sugar Cor-poration’s (GuySuCo) Agriculture Research Centre have been destroyed over the past three weeks by persons who are now occupying the lands at Chateau Margot.
Head of the Research Centre, Gavin Ramnarain told Stabroek News yesterday that three weeks ago, a section of the field belonging to GuySuCo was burnt by squatters.
In the following weeks two other parts of the field were set ablaze and this resulted in thousands of sugarcane varieties being destroyed.
“We had some squatters at CM [Chateau Margot] about three weeks. CM 44 field was burnt and we lost 470 varieties of cane, this is devastating enough for anybody who breeds these canes and then two weeks ago and last week, they burnt some more fields and we lost 16,650 varieties of cane,” he said before adding that those varieties were the only ones in existence and no matter what they try to do, they will never get back those varieties.
Ramnarain said that the Research Centre is tasked with developing varieties of sugarcane and the lands at Chateau Margot have always been used as the breeding fields for these varieties. He noted that it takes 17 years to produce the numerous varieties.
He disclosed that at the same area, there are a total of 104 hectares filled with 81,730 individual varieties of sugarcanes that are currently being observed. He stated that everyone at the research centre is fearful that they might lose thousands more should persons decide to burn more fields in order to occupy them. In addition, he said if a variety becomes commercial, 16 of those are kept in Guyana and one variety can make the sugar industry produce $2 billion worth of sugar cane.
“It’s not necessarily the burning of the fields, it’s the potential data and the 17 years of work. Some of our staff were inconsolable when it comes to crying because you start off working here, all these little babies you grow up got destroyed and that 17 years of work to get back on track and it will not come back,” he bemoaned, explaining that the sugarcanes that they started breeding in recent years will take years before they reach commercial stage.
He noted that the squatting started in the abandoned lands of the La Bonne Intention Estate but while the estate was shut down, the research centre was still functioning. However, persons began squatting close by and they soon moved to the Success area after which they set their sights on the lands used for breeding. Those persons decided to move over and that was when they claimed those lands after which they set the fields ablaze.
When asked by Stabroek News if they had spoken with those persons regarding the research, he replied that they had not but the staff member who lives close to the area has been receiving threats from those persons. He added that the matter was reported to relevant authorities but they are trying their best to avoid any sort of confrontation with the squatters.
Ramnarain said that he understands that some of the sugarcanes that were burnt have started to grow back and as a result of this, they would need to continue observing those plants. “We still have to observe those fields for the next two years to see how the second generation performs,” he noted.
In this regard, he stated that if the Enmore Sugar Estate reopens, the land will be needed as they will need to supply the estate with sugarcanes as they have done in the past.
