The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), is seeking the services of private cane farmers to cultivate 1,000 hectares of lands at its Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall, and Uitvlugt estates, according to a request for Expressions of Interest (EoI).
The request for EoI, which was recently released, is seeking the submission of proposals for the cultivation and delivery of sugarcane. The invitation stated that from the proposals, the corporation will engage service providers for future negotiations and ultimately a contract between them and GuySuCo as the procuring entity.
“The Government is striving to revamp the Industry to transform it into a dynamic, viable economic company to thrive within the complex socio-political and economic landscape. As such, the
Corporation has been tasked in engaging private sector partnerships. One such diversification venture is to expand the hectare of private cane producers,” the bid document, which is available online, states.
At the three grinding estates there are 500 hectares of temporary lands available to private cane farmers to cultivate an additional 500 hectares at Rose Hall, which is expected to return to production by the second crop of 2023.
The temporarily abandoned lands available to the private sector is 300 hectares at Albion, 500 hectares at Rose Hall, and 100 hectares each at Blairmont and Uitvlugt.
Bidders must include in their submission an introduction to the individual, company or consortium; state any previous experience in cultivation of sugar cane along with their curriculum vitae; bidder understanding of the requirements for the scope of work; detailed Approach and Methodology highlighting plan to implement the stated scope; detailed resumes of the Leader and supporting technical staff and detailed listing of equipment owned and those proposed to be purchased to execute the works.
All submissions must be made by January 5, 2023.
Under the scope of work, the bid document states that successful bidders will be responsible for the entire process of sugar cane cultivation, including light land clearing, tillage, planting, crop husbandry operations, drainage, irrigation, harvesting, and delivery of canes to the factory.
The partnership between the farmer and GuySuCo will be governed under the National Cane Farming Committee Act. According to the document, all applicants must include their curriculum vitae in their expression along with the projected cost of the undertaking.
Farmers have been informed that they will be responsible for providing the labour, equipment and manpower, required to clear the lands prior to tillage and maintain access dams and relevant infrastructure.
“It is the responsibility of the farmer to till the land to create a seedbed conducive to plant growth.
Good quality tillage is a prerequisite for a productive and successful crop… The farmer will be responsible for the soil nutrition, plant nutrition, weed control, pest control, and disease control in their respective plots,” the document highlighted in its expectation of land preparation and planting process.
Moreover, the EoI in its requirements states that the farmers will be responsible for cleaning and maintaining both infield and sideline drains at the required design parameters. The sidelines are to be cleaned of any debris and vegetation, enabling the free flow of water.
“The successful farmer will be responsible for providing irrigation water to the farm, either during planting or supplemental irrigation water during the dry season. All irrigation canals bordering the farmer’s plot are to be cleaned and excavated to the desired level. These canals include all cross canals, middle walks and high level canals.”
It was noted that GuySuCo will be providing punts for the transportation of sugarcane at the end of the harvesting period. However, farmers can explore alternative methods of transportation of the produce.
“The farmer is to ensure that all harvesting standards are adhered to and that canes are delivered to the factory within 72 hours of burning. Canes delivered to the factory shall be free from extraneous matter such as trash, refuse, roots, green leaves, soil and white immature tops. The harvesting of canes is to be well coordinated with the estate representative,” the document informed.
In August of this year, the corporation invited persons to invest in some 25 per cent of the corporation’s lands.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in August had met with sugar workers, private cane farmers, and members of the National Cane Farmers’ Committee in Region Three. It is unclear if at that meeting persons had expressed any desire to have access to increased lands for farms.
In 2018, GuySuCo had reported that it had made 4,200 hectares available to be leased to private cane farmers and over half was already being used. There has been no update on if the remainder was ever taken or the status of that programme.
“One of the things we want to do is to bring more cane farmers on board and this is part of that and our Uitvlugt Improve-ment Programme,” then GuySuCo spokeswoman, Audreyanna Thomas, had informed.
She had indicated that out of the 4,200 hectares made available for lease, 2,800 hectares have been already occupied by some 77 cane farmers.
“Some of the farmers who were at Wales went over to Uitvlugt and we started to give some new ones last year and in 2016 we started to give some new farmers,” Thomas had disclosed.
She had noted that they were expecting to produce 5,900 tonnes of sugar per year from the lands that are currently being leased, which would help to meet the estate’s production target of 17,400 tonnes that year. Thomas added that while at one point there was a lot of interest, it had since waned but the company had been receiving applications and calls regularly.
The applicants must show that they have the financial wherewithal to meet the commitment before a determination is made on the amount of land will be allocated to them.
The PPP/C announced that as part of its efforts to revitalise the sugar industry, it would be looking into a small-business initiative for cane farmers which will allow them to have access to small loans to invest in their farms.
Following the closure of sugar estates between 2016 and 2018 by the former administration, private cane farmers faced hardships. Those who chose to weather the storm was forced to decrease their production.
In July of 2020, four years after the closure of the Wales sugar estate, it was revealed that the 774 private farmers who supplied the factory with cane were also affected. And while many had to find other alternatives to provide for their livelihoods, a few had told this newspaper that they were hanging on and turned to supplying the Uitvlugt sugar estate.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha had acknowledged the challenges concomitant with restructuring Guyana’s sugar industry and getting it to a profitable state. He then had urged the Cane Pro-ducers’ Board to align their programmes for the expansion and development of the industry to the policies outlined in government’s 2020-2025 manifesto.
“We were voted into office by the people of this country based on the manifesto that was put forward. Those manifesto promises now act as the framework for developing government’s policies. One of those promises was to open the closed sugar estates and bring the sector to profitability. We’ve started already and, as a result, a number of cane farming committees have signalled their readiness to come back on stream. I’ve had meetings with the Upper Corentyne Cane Farming Committee, as well as cane farming committees from Bloomfield and Letter Kenny. I hope this Board can play a major role is helping to resuscitate all those dormant cane farming committees across the country. A number of those committees need to have elections and have their leases renewed and I hope this Board will give the kind of leadership necessary to have these committees functional,” Mustapha said.
He had also told the board of his government’s intention to develop a public/ private partnership for the industry.
“With the plans we have for the sector and where we hope to take it, we are cognizant of the fact that government alone cannot fund the industry. Since taking office, government has injected $7 billion into the sugar industry. Those funds were and will be used for the reopening of the estates that were closed, as well as the recapitalization of the estates presently operating. This will also result in private cane farmers having a lot of opportunities to resuscitate their farms and you will have to be at the forefront in leading the process to ensure we incorporate them into the activities of GuySuCo,” he said
“Furthermore, as you should be aware, one of the main functions of the Board is the control, administration and recoup money from farmers under the Cane Farmers Special Fund Act. Government is also looking at the small business initiative and this Board can make representation for farmers to have access to small loans to invest in their farms. Last year we had $100 million in that fund from the budget and hopefully in the new budget, we can have more funds so that cane farmers can tap into those resources,” he added.
