Dear Editor,
A few days ago, a former colleague of mine in the sugar industry informed me that the Guyana government is bringing Cuban experts to assist our failing sugar industry! Editor, I was aware that the Cuban sugar industry was in deep trouble for several years, also they are so poor now that the industry is still using 1980’s Russian harvesters and hand labour, so hearing that we are bringing Cuban technicians to help with GuySuCo, I was totally floored. I say now that it will be a waste of time, a decision faced with a problem the Cubans do not understand, much less know how to solve.
So I turned to the research to find the facts about sugar in Cuba, and it is frightening. In the past 6 years, Cuba’s sugar production fell by more than 1 million tonnes per year and last year, Cuba which used to produce 7 million tonnes in the past, now produces 350,000 tonnes per year. But Cuba is not like Guyana, they don’t have the problems we have in growing sugar cane. Editor, here is the picture. The average rainfall in Cuba is around 52 inches per year – most of which fall in their rainy season of around 180 days of the year during the months of June to November. Millimeters of rain per month.
The numbers in the top line is the Cuban rainfall for 2023 and the bottom line is the Guyana coastal rainfall for 2023. Editor, look at it, in the 6 months from June to November (Cuba’s rainy season) nearly 70% of the rain falls, but from December to May (the dry season) only about 30% of 1008 mms or 302 MMs falls. Compared to Guyana, in 2023 only 3 months (August, September and October) had an acceptable level of rainfall, granted that 2023 was not a typical year, but it’s close to what I have found as approaching normal in this country.
Heaven on earth cannot begin to describe what a trained eye sees when he compares the rainfall of Cuba for growing, and more importantly harvesting sugar cane, and land preparation etc. i.e. six months of comparatively good damp conditions throughout the entire growing season from June to November, then drying out and a full 6 months of perfect weather to harvest and mill the canes. Except if they are unlucky enough to get hit by a hurricane.
Soil? Editor, the internet tells us that Cuba has, “Highly fertile red limestone above sea level soil which extends from west of Havana to near Cienfuegos on the southern coast and lies in extensive patches in western Camagüey province, providing the basis for Cuba’s main agricultural output.” Highly fertile deep soils, Editor, not low lying, acid, heavy clays like Guyana. What are we bringing these people here to do?? To tell us about their meteoric fall in production, in what is, almost perfect weather and soil conditions for sugar cane growing! Or how wonderful the 1980s Russian made harvesters work? Where the only problem is that the government does not seem to have enough foreign exchange to buy fuel for their crops? Which apparently happens quite frequently.
What would they know about the use of modern agricultural equipment or chemicals? Modern field layouts and laser levelling for the mechanization of heavy, low lying clay soils! What these people here, parading and leaders, are doing in the sugar industry and mirrored in so many other areas, would be hilarious if it were not so tragic. One can but hope that they will be able to speak to the Guyanese sugar workers.
The money given to the sugar industry amidst much fanfare is not going to the workers, its money going to pay contractors to deliver poor quality services and materials to the industry. The workers are seeing none of it, and their situation is not improving. In this last crop for example, the workers were only required to cut cane for 16 days at Albion.
Editor, I have no intention of taking any full-time job at my age. So, the accusation that I want to be the CEO of GuySuCo is just nonsense. What I want to be is a member of a powerful Third Force party in parliament, which holds the balance of power and which does not want political position but is committed to force the current parties in parliament to work together in cooperation with each other for all the people in Guyana, and it can be done again, because the AFC had that position in 2011 but failed to understand their strategic power.
Sincerely,
Tony Vieira
