FROM SUGAR TO ANTELOPE GRASS

Feb 03, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Ravi Dev has raised an important matter in relation to the marketing of Guyana’s sugar to the Caribbean.  It is now for the corporation and the Ministry of Agriculture to confirm whether or not we have wasted valuable time and money in seeking to penetrate regional markets only to now find that these efforts are in vain because of the lack of a competitive price for our sugar.
The Ministry of Agriculture should recognise the crisis of confidence which now faces the sugar corporation and should not simply respond reflexively.
The Ministry should, instead, commission an inquiry into the international marketing of our sugar so that we can have a more informed judgment, rather than one which would seem to be merely political and aimed principally at negating what Dev said, rather than getting at the truth.
Arriving at a truthful assessment of the international marketing of our sugar is extremely important because so many of the plans which have been developed for the sugar industry rely on the sale of our sugar.
The entire reorganisation plan for the GuySuCo revolves on reduced production costs and improved marketing. The plan to reduce the cost of production is not just to make sugar more competitive but equally to allow Guyana to penetrate into markets because without increased sales of sugar, there can be no economies of scales achieved.
The plan envisages production capping at around 450,000 tons per annum with markets being there to sell this sugar.
This is one of the reasons why there was a stress on selling sugar to the Caribbean where a number of countries have closed their sugar industries.
While sugar is being produced far cheaper in many other parts of the world, Guyana has a distinct advantage when it comes to the regional markets because of the existing trade arrangements in CARICOM which offers an important layer of protection; because of the traditional trading arrangements, and because of the respect for Guyana’s brand of sugar.
Guyana’s entry into the regional markets under the value–added, Demerara Gold brand is not, quite unlike the situation in Canada, affected be any legal challenge. We must therefore question just what is the existing state of play as it relates to both the export by GuySuCo of packaged and bulk sugar to the Caribbean.
There must have an assessment of our marketing efforts so as to determine whether one of the main pillars upon which the reorganization plan is premised is flawed and thus renders the entire plan worthless.
There must therefore be an assessment of the marketing of Guyana’s sugar over the years so as to determine whether Guyana got value for its money, but more importantly, to instruct on what fundamental adjustments need to be made to the reorganization plan.
That plan was also heavily dependent on the new factory at Skeldon becoming operational.  However, the problems of the sugar industry go much deeper and are more widespread than we thought. And these problems did not emerge overnight and therefore ought to have been intercepted earlier.
There can be no excuses for the failures to address these problems.
One of the main problems is the attrition of labour from the industry. There is an acute shortage of labour.  Part of this is due to poor pay, with many cane cutters seeking better personal harvest in the Caribbean’s cane producing nations.
Part of it has to do with the fact that it is hard to attract new labourers given the back-breaking work involved in cutting cane.
The corporation, however, knew from as far back as ten years ago that mechanization was necessary for field operations. Some of this is taking place, in relation to loading of cane but there have been many problems with mechanization and the pace of its adjustment and implementation have been far too slow to compensate for the attrition rate of labour in the fields.
Another major problem which requires a commission of inquiry is the plan to have private farmers supply close to thirty per cent of the cane for the new factory at Skeldon.
There needs to be an assessment as to what was done to ensure this target was reached.
Surely no one expected that private cane farmers, without the necessary incentives, would simply take to increased cultivation. There seems to have been a total absence of foresight in the implementation of this aspect of the plan because as we know the anticipated private cultivation did not come on stream, and it is not going to come on stream unless there are incentives given to the private farmers to engage in this cultivation.
What is needed is for these inquiries to take place so that we can have a proper assessment of where the failures took place. What we do not need is political excuses.  I would not, however, be surprised if instead of dealing with this matter in the prescribed manner, we have more of the usual excuse about climate change affecting production.
Who knows? Even the antelope grass may be blamed for the decline in sugar.

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