Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has revealed that a Peoples National Congress (PNC)-led administration will not support the expansion of the sugar industry.
“I believe that sugar has to be produced in limited quantities. The task therefore is ours to find alternative employment for the people in the sugar industry. I don’t think you should close it and leave them without employment,” Norton has contended.
He was at the time being interviewed by Dr Asquith Rose on the Globespan 24X7 programme on Monday.
Under the David Granger-led APNU+AFC government, the administration had closed four sugar estates across the country, sending some 7000-plus workers on the breadline.
In 2016, the Wales Estate was closed, and the following year, the Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon Estates were also shut down.
So far, the new Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) administration has reopened the Rose Hall Estate and rehired hundreds of workers while efforts are underway to reopen the Skeldon Estate.
There are plans to convert the Enmore Estate into a sugar refinery while the Wales Estate has been converted into the Wales Development Authority.
Through government’s investments, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has made significant strides towards mechanisation and President Dr Irfaan Ali has revealed plans to pursue the production of organic sugar.
With an investment of $8.1 billion in 2023 to advance the revitalisation efforts of the sugar industry, Guyana saw a massive 28 percent or 13,155 metric tonnes increase in sugar production, compared to 47,049 metric tonnes in 2022. This was highlighted by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, during the ministry’s year-end review.
But Norton believes there is no future for sugar in Guyana.
“I’ve been engaging people in diaspora and at home at some of the ideas we have for dealing with that issue in Regions 6, 5, and 3 and there are other forms of employment that can be found for the people there while at the same time having the sugar industry at the right size and seeking to make it as viable as it could be in the present international and national context,” he said.
The Opposition Leader added, “our approach has to be one in which we create [alternate] employment and bring the sugar industry to the size that is best suitable.”
Additionally, he assured that a PNC government “will not go and just close sugar factories” – though this is what the former PNC-led APNU+AFC administration had done.
Meanwhile, according to Norton, the current government’s investments in the sugar industry is wasteful.
“The government, whether we like it or not, is throwing money down a hole,” he said.
