Large-scale cocoa production for Skeldon Estate lands by August

Large-scale cocoa production is slated to commence on the lands of Skeldon Estate as the Government continues to assess additional proposals from local private investors and international companies for a range of other ventures at the facility, including the factory.

This disclosure was made by Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha on Thursday during the Guyana Dialogue programme.

“We are going to large-scale cocoa production and then we have some other investors coming on stream. We have lands that will develop there… the entire areas at Skeldon, we’ll see a lot of other opportunities being made available to farmers there and workers and people in those communities,” Mustapha said.

While the factory is currently not operational, some 5000 acres of estate land are being used for sugar cultivation to support operations at other factories under the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

Regarding the large-scale cocoa production, this will be undertaken by the Rizek Group from the Dominican Republic. It is expected that planting can commence by August this year on some 2000 acres of land. Mustapha also revealed that the company will set up a processing plant at Skeldon.

Reports indicate that the Government had also received a proposal from Indian investors who were interested in revitalising the Skeldon Sugar Factory.

According to Mustapha on Thursday, the Government continues to review various proposals submitted from international and local investors interested in the assets at Skeldon.

“We have some interest from some private sector and international investors. And we are looking at those interests… Hopefully we can have a good deal,” he expressed.

“Because…the technology at Skeldon is a modern technology; it’s a diffuser system technology. And I think that people who went and visited that area, they recognise it, and that is why we have some interest and we are looking at those interests now,” he added.

The Skeldon Estate was one of the four estates across the country that were shut down by the previous A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration, forcing thousands of sugar workers on the breadline.

Since returning to office in 2020, the Dr Irfaan Ali-led People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has been looking, in a more studied way, at ways to reopen the estates and diversify the operations with the introduction of new industries at those factories that are not feasible for reopening to produce sugar.

Meanwhile, the agriculture minister restated the Government’s commitment to the sugar industry, highlighting its plans to modernise the sector through mechanisation, which has reached 40 per cent of all GuySuCo’s planting operations.

Mustapha also spoke about plans to establish a sugar refinery at Wales, West Bank Demerara, noting that production will have to increase.

The US$20 million refinery is being undertaken by Demerara Sugar Refinery Inc (DSR) – a private sector joint venture last year signed between GAICO Construction & General Services Inc. from Guyana and Sucro, a North American firm. Reports indicate that the refinery will have the capacity to process 100,000 tonnes per annum.

Sucro, a US and Canadian sugar refiner and distributor, has built four sugar refineries in the last five years, including in Belize, where it is currently constructing the Caribbean Sugar Refinery (CSR) Limited in partnership with Santander Sugar Limited.

According to Sucro officials, CSR, coupled with the Demerara Sugar Refinery, aims to transform the Caribbean sugar industry by building regional cane sugar refining capacity to serve the Caricom (Caribbean Community) market.

GuySuCo is currently targeting 100,000 tonnes of sugar this year. Last year, it produced 59,200 tonnes.

“I want to say that we, the PPP/Civic Government, will always continue to invest in sugar like what we have been doing in all the sectors… The ultimate objective is to revitalise and ensure that GuySuCo and sugar, we achieve profitability,” Mustapha emphasised.

In fact, the Government is aiming to make GuySuCo profitable by 2030 via a five-year strategic plan.