Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
Sugar Industry…Mechanisation partially responsible for reduced labour force: Source
In an attempt to reduce the cost of production and to fully utilise the ever-reducing opportunity days in the sugar industry, mechanisation is responsible in part for the reduced labour force in the industry.
An example of a mechanical loader used to transport cane from where it was cut to the punt that would transport it to the estate for grinding.
This is according to a senior source within the Ministry of Agriculture, who noted that ever since early 2000, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) took the decision to employ mechanisation.
The source noted that specialized Bell Loaders were employed for the loading of cane into punts, given that the Human Rights organizations had criticized GuySuCo for having its cane cutters lifting and transporting on their shoulders, heavy loads of cane from the place that it was cut to the punt that would take it to the estate for grinding.
Hence the cane cutters were now only involved in the cutting process, after which they would just align the cane so that the loader could retrieve it and transport it to the punt.
It was also noted that specialized tractors with fabricated accessories were employed in several estates for the planting of cane.
As it relates to the spraying of fields with pesticides, manual sprayers were still utilized but the company was also looking towards the use of Boom sprayers which was capable of completing more than one field in a day, while human labour would take several days to complete just one field.
Another aspect of the mechanisation process at GuySuCo was the introduction of specialized digging machines that were a lot more accurate at the specified gradient that improved the drainage efficiency. This could not be achieved with human beings digging with shovels.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo, Nick Jackson, in a release to the media, sought to defend the company’s position as it relates to claims made by the PNCR Shadow Minister of Agriculture Tony Vieira.
Vieira, on Thursday last, during a PNCR press briefing, had said that a major problem in the industry today was the huge wage increases which were given to the sugar workers between 1990 to 2006, which the company could not afford while maintaining its competitiveness, “so they were forced to reduce the workforce by 10,000 workers between 1998 and 2008; but in reducing the workforce so drastically and rapidly, they in fact created a large-scale shortage of labour in the industry which is plaguing them today.
What is incredible is that even though they reduced the workforce from 28,000 in 1992 to around 14,000 now, with an estimated 4000 casual workers, the wage bill still keeps rising drastically whilst the price of sugar.”
Jackson challenged the PNCR to provide evidence of forced reduction of the workforce by GuySuCo.
“In fact, the opposite is true; low worker turnout is a major challenge we face….Wage increases are a function of inflation, and while the Corporation’s financial status has been crippled by the production decline, we have to offer competitive wages to secure the workforce.”
He noted also that the company was significantly affected by the migration of labour to the regional territories and North America and, “we have recognised that each new generation is less inclined to seek jobs that are highly labour-intensive.”
This, according to Jackson, was a significant driving force behind mechanization and improving the skill levels of our labour force to support our modernization projects.
One example of training to support mechanization is the fact that the accounting processes at GuySuCo have not been computerized, and as such, the staff had to be trained to manage the systems efficiently.
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