Dear Editor:
Prime Minister Modi, from one of the most efficient sugar-producing countries, came and left but GuySuCo went backward. The sugar production situation in Guyana has gotten worse because apparently, those in charge at GuySuCo have lost command of what they are doing concerning the solutions needed to bring home the crop for 2024. What is most unfortunate is the indifference to the plight of the 8,000 persons working in that industry from the policymakers including Members of Parliament, Vinceroy Jordon and Zulfikar Mustapha.
I was advised by a letter to the press written by a former GuySuCo Executive that there is a Strategic Plan for GuySuCo for the period 2021-2026. This is extremely good to know since the Minister of Agriculture appears to be ignorant of this document from his public utterances. I would like to read this document and what guidance it offered for 2024. I am being told that when the curtains close for 2024 on GuySuCo, they would have produced some 45,000 metric tons of sugar, some 15,000 metric tons less when compared to 2023 when some 60,000 metric tons of sugar were produced. Everyone on the inside told me that there are 200,000 metric tons more of prime sugar canes on the fields in 2024, as compared to 2023. So why less sugar? Editor, this does not add up and the Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Madanlal Ramraj must be held accountable since from all the readings, he was the real CEO of GuySuCo in 2024.
I rang up some friends in the industry and this is what they told me. The industry cannot harvest the canes fast enough because it ran out of agricultural chemicals to deal with the massive amounts of vines in the field after the May-June rains. These heavily vine infested fields slowed down the harvesting operations. Where is the agriculture plan with the appropriate and timely remedy for this problem? They also told me that the 2025 crop will be even worse than 2024 since when they were supposed to be applying Muriate of Potash, the four Estates in October and November had none. One agriculture officer in the industry told me it was not for a lack of asking, but they are not getting any positive feedback from the Office of the Agriculture Director. This begs the question, does GuySuCo need such a position as Agriculture Director that is useless to the Estates?
Muriate of potash (MOP) is a potassium chloride fertilizer that plays a crucial role in the growth and development of sugarcane. Potassium is one of the essential macronutrients for sugarcane, alongside nitrogen and phosphorus. There is a beneficial partnership between MOP and the final sugar content in the canes. Additionally, this MOP helps the cane increase its drought tolerance and strengthens the cane’s immune system making it more resilient to diseases and pests. With no MOP in the industry under the Agriculture Director Mr. Vishnu Panday, can anything be done for the remainder of this year to save the 2025 crop?
From what I am being told, no one is listening to the Estate Managers who are the real experts with the real experience to fix these problems. The biggest problem in the industry, today, is what to do with the prime canes that cannot be harvested during their prime. Let us ignore the fact that billions of dollars were invested on these canes. It is standard science that the variety of canes we have in Guyana, when they are planted, they must be reaped between 10-12 months to exploit the optimal sugar out of them. Harvesting them at 15 months after they are planted will result in the older canes experiencing a reduction in their sugar content, an increase in their fiber content, a deterioration in the quality of the canes and the most dangerous of them all, an increase in pest and disease infestation in those older canes. Mr. Madanlal Ramraj cannot be absolved from full personal accountability for this mess.
The table below alerts us to the fact that by the time the rains come on December 10, 2024, and the annual crop for 2024 is closed, some 180,000 metric tons of prime canes will be left on the fields, to be taken over to 2025. This reality will result in a loss in sugar and a commensurate loss in revenue of approximately $550 million (GUY). Are any policymakers looking at this matter? I am advised that as of November 21, 2024, there were 310,000 metric tons of prime canes ready to be cut for crushing in the four factories. However, across the whole crop, the industry was only able to harvest on average 6,000 metric tons of cane per day. At such a rate it will take 45 available dry opportunity days to clear the fields and Guyana does not have 45 dry days between now and Christmas. There are 40 days left for the year but not all of them are dry opportunity days since the rains are expected on December 10, 2024. Insiders at GuySuCo have told me that there are only 20 dry days left.
To complicate matters, the workforce will start to leave the industry for the Christmas Season, traditionally around December 10 of each year. Once they qualify for the ‘Holiday With Pay Bonus’ it becomes infeasible for the cane cutters to continue working on the fields; Merry Christmas. Why work when you are earning full pay while staying at home? And if they need some short-term cash, they go into the markets and sell fast moving items like “squib and seasoning” to “catch their hands”. But, if we say what about the mechanized operations, we must know that when the rains start falling, the harvesting machines can get bogged down in the fields and cannot work for the remainder of the year. Therefore, which “Einstein” directed the Agriculture Operations into planting all of this cane and not competently analyzing the harvesting capacity of the industry for 2024?
This situation highlights that GuySuCo did not have a Field Operations Plan for 2024, which means they are developing the work programme using hot air and not science. Whoever is in charge of the Agriculture Operations at GuySuCo should be fired for causing the industry to lose some $550 million recklessly in 2024. But as usual, from the feedback I was given, the blame is being steered to the junior officers and the Estate Managers who have zero power to direct the agriculture operations. That entire act of “directing the orchestra on the Titanic” emanates from the Office of the Agriculture Director. One Estate Manager told me that at a meeting on one of the Estates, the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Madanlal Ramraj, took away all their power to implement actions on the fields and told them that all agriculture decisions must be made by the Agriculture Director. This never happened in all of the history of GuySuCo, so why is this happening in 2024?
It is time for Mr. Ramraj and Mr. Panday be called upon by the policymakers to answer for this worst production ever in all of the history of the sugar industry. They must be held accountable. Editor, with four grinding factories, this year 2024 is going to deliver even less sugar than when GuySuCo had three grinding factories between 2018-2022. If they cannot explain themselves, the decent thing for them to do is resign and let Mr. Paul Cheong, a former cane farmer, pick up the slack and try his best to avoid the crash that is expected in 2025.
Sincerely,
Anthony Francis