Sugar Industry woes

Jun 19, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
My father, Mr Joseph Vieira, had four British patents when he was 34 years old. They were all for the design of implements for our sugar industry specifically for tools to do land preparation in our cane fields. For this achievement he was asked to join the board of directors of Bookers in 1952 as the director of mechanical coordination, a position he held until 1992 when he was removed since he was not a PPP supporter.
Even then at age 74 he was still inventing new ways to prepare the sugar cane fields using big articulated John Deer Tractors with eight wheels rather than the more costly and slower Caterpillar tractors.
My father retired from Houston Estate in 1978 at age 60. He said that he was going to enjoy his retirement and relax. At the time Houston a sugar estate of around 1600 planted acres was producing around 4500-4800 tons of sugar a year i.e. a yield of around three tons sugar per acre. Even though small it was producing nearly 30 per cent of LBI’s sugar.
He was not allowed to retire for long. My father was always an avid aeroplane pilot and had his own plane as far back as I could remember. He was the non-executive chairman of Guyana Airways for many years. After he retired from Houston Burnham asked him to become executive Chairman of the then bankrupt Guyana Airways Corporation which he did. After only four years he brought the airways back to profitability and retired again at 70 in 1988.
But at that time he began to work as manager of Houston again since in his absence the estate had dropped from producing 4800 tons to just about 1800 tons. In four years he brought it back to over 4000-ton production. Mr.Yesu Persaud who is not unfamiliar with the sugar industry, when shown this accomplishment by my brother, described it as an inspired performance.
When I say that my father was the greatest Guyanese sugar cane planter in the history of this country, I was not joking or boasting; it was just a statement of fact.
Any sugar industry can be returned to normalcy (as far as the canes are concerned) in four years. The reason is not that Joe Vieira did it at Houston, it is that the sugar industry replants 20 per cent of its fields every year so in five years all the damage Mr Bhim and Mr Komal Chand are seeing in the cane fields of Guysuco today, can be undone by starting now.
Only a disaster like the 2005 flood can step in the way and undo that. Does Guysuco have the know how to prepare and plant a high yielding plant field today? The ability to reap it on time, fertilize it on time and prepare it for growing into a great first ratoon is the real question that must be answered.
The president has asked for advice and I have given it to him. Where we go from here is up to him! For 12 years I saw this problem looming in this industry and I am very proud of that foresight, but when it comes to GuySuCo I have never been wrong.
And I will say it again I told Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo since 1999 that the Skeldon expansion project was riddled with risks. Perhaps he sees the dangers now.
Tony Vieira

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