Noting that his government is pursuing different formulas to ensure the long-term survival and profitability of the sugar industry, President Dr Irfaan Ali has called on the sector’s main trade union, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), to take up the task of managing one of the estates.
He made the call on Tuesday whilst delivering remarks at the 78th commemoration of the Enmore Martyrs.
“We also invited the union, if you would like, to take up the mantle of management and to take one of the estates and make it a model. We give you that challenge openly to take one of the estates and to manage it…We give you that opportunity with the workers so that we can have different models. We invite you to be part of the management also because that is what good responsible government does. It invites everyone to be part of the table…Do not shy away from the opportunity,” President Ali said.
Moreover, the Head of State made it clear that he is not satifisied with the failure of the management of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) in achieving its production targets.
“I am not pleased with the failure of the corporation to consistently achieve the production target. I have made this position abundantly clear. I have read the riot act…I have demanded greater accountability. I have demanded greater efficiency. I have demanded better results. I have also asked the union to be a better partner, not to strike unnecessarily. But let me also say this clearly. The responsibility for reviving the sugar industry does not rest with management alone. It rests with all of us,” he emphasised.
In this regard, President Ali underscored the importance of the sugar industry to the country.
“Sugar does not only support sugar workers. Sugar supports the entire community, the markets, the stores. It supports an entire ecosystem,” he posited.
Meanwhile, the President noted that other pathways are being pursued to guarantee the sugar industry’s success, expressing that “we have to look to a plan that will strengthen the industry, optimise production, reduce costs of production, whilst at the same time looking at newer areas for growth and development within the sugar plantation.”
Already, GuySuCo has converted 44% of lands for mechanical harvesting.
“We know there is an acute shortage of labour. We know that many sugar workers do not want their children to engage in the task of cane cutting. That is why mechanisation is no longer optional. It is necessary,” he asserted.
“At the same time, drone technology is being deployed for crop surveillance and for the application of chemicals and fertilisers. We do not need to buy 100 vehicles to go in the fields, land rovers with managers standing at the back. We can deploy a drone and in real time we can see the entire cultivation in less than 10% of the time it took historically. And that is the direction we have to go,” he added.
Additionally, factories are being modernised and efforts are being made to pursue value-added sugar production.
President Ali noted that sugar remains vital to the country’s economy and more so, it is a heritage industry.
“For generations, it has been the backbone of our rural economy. It has sustained villages, it has supported families, it has created communities. And despite the challenges it faces today, it continues to play a vital role in national life,” the President expressed.
He also emphasised his government’s commitment to continue uplifting the lives of sugar workers and their families.
“We are also looking at opportunities to lift the workers from one level to the next level. And if we have to deploy a system of support through public policy to lift the workers from one level to the next level, with a direct conversation with the worker, with retraining and retooling, reorganising, repositioning, restrategising, reorienting, you can rest assured the People’s Progressive Party will do it. The People’s Progressive Party civic government will do it because at the end of it, we want the workers to win,” the Head of State noted.
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