The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) yesterday held a compulsory meeting for companies interested in tendering for land preparation and planting at the Skeldon Estate.
According to the public bid invitation, GuySuCo said that a compulsory meeting would be held at 10 am at the Skeldon Estate.
At the location yesterday, a senior GuySuCo official met with around five interested bidders. They had a discussion which lasted for about fifteen minutes.
Notably, several senior and well known private cane farmers in the region were not present at the location yesterday.
In May, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha announced that the replanting of cane had commenced at the Skeldon Estate and that the canes will be crushed at the Albion and Rose Hall factories.
At a meeting held at the Skeldon Estate then, Mustapha stated that they had started to mechanize 5,000 hectares of land at the Skeldon Estate with replanting of canes already started. “We are hoping that by the end of this year we can plant a substantial amount of canes in that 5,000 hectares and also the intention is to complete an additional 5,000 hectares from Skeldon that we will crushed at Albion and Rose Hall factories that have the capacity to crush more canes,” he had said.
While this is being done they are working to improve the overall performance of the two factories, he added.
Noting the investments being made by the government to improve the sugar industry, Mustapha said they are hopeful that by the end of the year there will be 60% mechanization of the industry. “We are purchasing new … harvesters. We are outsourcing planting because there is a problem with labour too and what we are doing we are trying to modernize the industry so that we can harvest and plant mechanically,” he said.
It is unclear which companies are currently planting cane at Skeldon and whether it was as a result of a tendering process similar to yesterday’s.
Those who were present yesterday and are interested in preparation or planting must submit their bids on or before 17th September, 2024 at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board.
