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Sugar Concerns

Jan 08, 2012 Editorial

 

The appointment of a new Minister of Agriculture could be interpreted as a signal that the Donald Ramotar administration was not satisfied with the performance of the sector. The signal is somewhat scrambled when the credentials of the new Minister is scrutinised. With almost no experience in agriculture visible on his resume, he confronts a sharp learning curve.
The Minister’s call for a ‘national think tank’ to be constituted to assist in the improvement in the sector is welcomed but it sounds suspiciously like the old British ‘form a committee’ reflex whenever problems surface.
While the ‘consensus’ the Minister claims to be seeking with ‘relevant stakeholders’ appears admirable on its face, we are not too sure that it is practical. This is especially true in the case of the troubled sugar industry.
The travails of sugar have been long in the making. We have always complimented the administration for drafting a strategic plan for the industry very early in the day – 1998 to be exact. That plan was fundamentally quite sound; it is in its execution that the administration and GuySuCo have faltered. The Skeldon factory modernisation (replacement) and the expansion of the acreage under cultivation were premised on quite sound criteria.
The problem was that both the factory and the expansion seemed to be jinxed. When the key in the turnkey factory was turned there were simply too many problems in too many areas.
These have purportedly been addressed over the last four years but we appear to be no closer to achieving the projected optimal production than when we started. The Minister must do whatever it takes to obtain a practical achievable timeline from his technical team (with outside assistance if necessary) ASAP (as soon as possible).
It just might be that there is a fatal flaw in one or another component in the factory. Take the state-of-the-art diffuser system, for instance – can we ever get it to operate at optimum? If not, are there alternatives? The bottom line is that those in charge appear (at least from where we sit) to be simply hoping and praying that the glitches and hitches will just resolve themselves. They will not.
Then there is the land expansion intended to take care of providing the cane for the factor’s projected throughput of 100,000 tons of sugar per year. On an average, this production demands at least one million tons of cane per annum.
On paper, it sounded nice when it was proposed that at least 30 per cent of the increased production would be supplied by private farmers. It fitted in with the new mantra of ‘privatisation’ of production.
The reality was not so benign. The private farmers never really got going and if the factory had performed on schedule we would have had the same crisis of production but from another cause.
Just as with the factory, the public has not been supplied with firm and reliable figures as to where we stand on the projected increase in production.
If the factory will never be in a position to deliver its promise, should we not curtail the acreage to be cultivated with the production possibilities? Conversely, if we have a firm projection on the factory’s rehabilitation to optimum performance, shouldn’t the field expansion be coordinated with that schedule?
We are pleased that the major sugar union, GAWU, has been asked to nominate a representative on the Board of Directors of GuySuCo. This newspaper has long advocated this move. The production of sugar generates unique social relations: this we know from our history.
It is crucial for the opinions and views of workers be factored into the mix when the Board makes policy decisions for the corporation. The union has stressed the necessity for an ‘informed’ Board as far as sugar production is concerned. They can now play a crucial role in providing some of that ‘information’. Workers must be on board.

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