Government and opposition members of Parliament on Wednesday clashed over the hefty sums being pumped into the sugar industry, which opposition members said has been showing no signs of improvement.
Defending government’s proposed $4 billion subvention to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and other measures in the budget, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said the investment will support the expansion and mechanization of the industry.
The Minister made the statement during his presentation on the 2023 budget and brushed aside criticism from the opposition, who took jabs at the government for investing in a “failing sugar industry.”
The $4b is to spent on increasing the production of packaged sugar, mechanisation of the industry, and cultivation of 2,000 hectares of lands with sugar cane. In addition government will be working towards increasing the amount of packaged sugar produced from 48 per cent to 77 per cent.
Mustapha explained that with the increase in cultivation, they are also working to advance the mechanised field layout development plan. He stated that the plan will be intensified to pave the way for Albion and Blairmont to achieve 60 per cent mechanised field operations by 2026.
“With all these plans and investment in place, the sugar sector is expected to recover and expand by 29.3 per cent”, he said.
The minister hit back at the coalition government for not making investments in the industry and accused the then government of leaving the industry “to limp along.”
“Mr Speaker, while four sugar estates were closed, the three remaining estates that were reluctantly kept open were left to limp along with little to no capital investments during the APNU+AFC tenure. By the time we entered office, sugar production had plummeted, and (GuySuCo) was in dire financial straits,” Mustapha charged.
Nonetheless, he told the National Assembly that they are close to achieving phase one of the reopening of the sugar estates. He said that by the second half of this year, the Rose Hall sugar estate will be reopened.
“I want to inform the APNU+AFC, that later on this year… Rose Hall, one of the estates that they closed…will be reopened and smoke will be coming out of that chimney,” the Agriculture Minister announced to applause from his government colleagues.
Earlier in the day, Opposition Member, Vinceroy Jordan, blasted the government for its continuing financial aid to the sugar industry. He stated that while they boast of the investments, the sector’s performance has been poor. Jordan also pointed to the industry’s failure to perform despite reducing its targets.
“…The real argument is whether GuySuCo needs a multi-million dollar packaging plant… GuySuCo is failing day after day, crop after crop, to produce sugar for the Blairmont packaging centre. I ask the honourable minister if with sugar dying under his watch, is this feasible?” he said.
On Tuesday, former minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, in his budget address said the APNU+AFC government’s decision to shut four of the estates during its tenure in 2015-2020 was sound.
“What was transformational was the right-sizing of the sugar industry… “If it is going to drag an economy down, we had to make the correct decision – that was transformational,” he posited.
Mustapha, however said that the layoff of 7,000 sugar workers caused a ripple effect throughout rural Demerara and Berbice, and affecting thousands more living in communities that depend on the industry.
“To date, over 1,479 people are reemployed within GuySuCo and are now able to provide a livelihood for their families and contribute to the recovery of their village economy,” he added as he fended off criticisms of his government’s decision to support the industry.
Rice growth
Jordan also accused the government of allowing the rice industry to fail. In his remarks, the opposition member said that rice production has been contracting despite projections of growth by the government.
He said that there were numerous rice lands that have had to be abandoned due to high cost of production and Budget 2023 failed to implement measures to cushion the impacts and assist farmers to return to the fields. He said too the high cost of fertilisers is one of the reasons for a decline in production.
Rebutting, Mustapha who spoke after Jordan, questioned the logic in his claims, asking “How can we destroy the rice industry, when they [the opposition] increased drainage and irrigation (D&I) and land rental by $6,000? They increase land rentals and D&I fees from $3,500 to $15,000.”
Mustapha argued that the measures in budget 2023 will aid in the achievement of a projected 8.3% growth this year and the target of cultivation of one million tonnes of rice by 2025.
“Mr. Speaker, in 2023, we are slated to cultivate 170,040 hectares of rice to yield an increase in production, to 652,103 metric tonnes.”
The Minister stated that while the member alluded to a collapse in the industry, the statistics at hand illustrate a different picture. He said under good fiscal and monetary policies of the government, they have seen, just with a comparison of June 2019 and June 2022, a growth in credit to agriculture of $4.3 billion, this was principally driven by increased lending of $3 billion for paddy production.
“Mr Speaker, in 2022, we earned approximately$42 billion in exports. This is a testament to our rice farmers being steadfast against the challenges of the May-June floods of 2021 and the supply chain challenges,” the Minister said as he highlighted the performance of the sector last year.
Touching on the support to farmers, he said the government has been working aggressively to reduce the cost of production by making available over $900 million worth of fertilizers free of cost to 5,160 rice farmers.
He also told the house, that they plan to construct 2 drying floors at Cotton Tree and Windsor Forest at the cost of $40 million.
Additionally, the minister went on to state that budget 2023 will see further support to the diversification plan which includes, the young Agriculture and Innovation Entrepreneurship Programme (AIEP), the cultivation of corn and soya the livestock support to single parents programme and the One Guyana Cut Roses programme among others.
He explained that $200 million has been allocated to increase production by 50 per cent and will see over 100 new young agri-entrepreneurs benefitting from the AIEP programme. There will also be the expansion of the Cut Rose programme which will see the local market saving money and Guyana being self-reliant for fresh flowers within the next year.
The minister also stated that the budget will support Guyana’s goal to be self-sufficient in the production of corn and soya for livestock feed.
“Moreover, by the end of 2023, we will cultivate 9,000 acres of soya bean, with projections for 26,000 acres by end of 2024 and 30,000 acres by the end of 2025. This will make us self-sufficient to produce all the livestock feed with over $60 million annually in revenue,” he disclosed.
Turning his attention to agriculture infrastructure, the Minister highlighted that there will be more construction of drainage and irrigation pumps across the country to the tune of $600 million.
Plans are in place for the construction of pump stations at Meten-Meer-Zorg and Belle Vue, Region Three; Jimbo Grove, Region Four; and Letter Kenny/Bloomfield, Region Six.
“We have revolutionised the infrastructure in this country, we have changed the landscape in this country. Over the last two years, Mr Speaker, a number of critical D&I works were executed,” Mustapha stated as he chastised the former government for not undertaking the necessary works to make the sector resilient to floods and other natural disasters.
The Agriculture Minister stated. “Our susceptibility to flooding is the sector’s biggest challenge to transforming our agriculture sector and securing better production outputs. Therefore, it is a top priority for our government to ensure that we are prepared for such disastrous events.”
The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, he highlighted will invest $16 billion into drainage and irrigation. Government will use these funds to effectively design, construct and maintain D&I infrastructure, and continue works from 2022.
