Ramotar opens Tenth Berbice Expo

Jul 27, 2014 News

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…underscores need for more value – added products

Stressing the need to create more value-added products and industries in Guyana such as rice

cereals and sugar cane co-generation, President Donald Ramotar declared open the Tenth Annual Berbice Exposition and Trade Fair on Friday evening at the Albion Sports Complex.
The activity was staged under floodlights for the first time. The event is being hosted by the Central Corentyne Chambers of Commerce (CCCC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce.
President Ramotar was assisted at the opening of the event by President of CCCC, Mr. Tejpaul Adjodhea and Region Six Vice- Chairman, Mr. Bhupaul Jhagroo
Mr. Adjodhea spoke on the creation of a more success-driven economy. “We believe that science and technology can play an integral role in developing the various sectors in this region. This will lead to increased production and productivity, thereby creating additional income,” he added.
“We would like to thank the Government of Guyana, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, GuySuCo, our sponsors and exhibitors, the hardworking members of the CCCC, and all those who assisted in making this event a reality in 2014.”
President Ramotar saw events like the Berbice Expo as pushers of the development of the economy. Expounding on the theme, ‘Exploiting Science and Technology for Economic Development’, the Guyanese leader said that it coincides with the intentions of the government.
Science and Technology today are very important for economic progress “because for centuries, we have been deliberately kept as a raw- material producer….to be processed abroad.”
Challenges with sugar and rice
For almost 400 years, he noted, all Guyana produced was raw sugar. “Only after 1992 did we start the process of transforming the [sugar] industry.” He spoke about the challenges being faced in the sugar industry. He added that those challenges are as a result of the need to restructure the industry.
The Sugar Protocol, he stated, which guarantees a preferential price for sugar was taken away in 2010; there was a 36 per cent cut in the price. “Coupled with that, we are facing serious issues with climate change. Since 2005, the opportunity days to all the practices in the field have been reduced from approximately 120 days per year to 80 days per year on average.”
Ramotar noted that the country has to rely more and more on science and technology and adding value to the products to overcome the many challenges being faced.

“We need to move to a stage where we refine sugar and instead of still selling raw sugar, we can sell industrial sugar on the international market.” He also spoke about the ethanol plant at the Albion Estate and about the benefits of such a project.
Co- Generation of electricity is ongoing at the Skeldon Sugar Factory, he said. This will be expanded to other factories just as other countries, such as India has done. Barbados, he said, does not call its industry a ‘sugar industry’. Rather it is a ‘cane industry’, “because their main form of production is to generate electricity from co- generation.”
This is the direction Guyana must follow, the President added. The waste, too, from the sugar processing, must be made use of, “to increase the revenue of our country.”
About the rice industry, the Guyanese leader said that this industry, too, has been suffering. There is more rice being produced than available markets. “But we can look towards science and technology to add value to that industry as well.”
The rice husk, that he said, sometimes creates environmental problems, can be used to create energy, or the broken rice itself can be invested to make cereals.
During a recent visit to the Institute of Applied Science and Technology on the Turkeyen Campus of the University of Guyana, “there I saw for myself that they can produce beautiful and quality cereals from our rice…
“I tasted it myself even though I am still working on my diet. I took time off to taste the cereals and I can tell you, that it was comparable to any rice cereals I have had anywhere in the world.”
This is a new product that can flood the markets in Guyana, earning more foreign exchange for Guyana. Five-minute rice, too, can be made, “for our women-folk or particularly for those employed and do not have to spend hours and hours in the kitchen preparing food. They can do this very, very quickly in using this kind of technology.”
The possibilities, he added, are enormous, “and we are investing in the human capital to create the human skills to manage and to develop these new technologies.”
The housing programme in Guyana has become a model for the Caribbean, President Ramotar said. During the Heads of Government meeting in Antigua, he said, “the Antiguan Prime Minister has been sending people here to look at the models we have used to house our people; the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines came here to look at the model that we have so that he can help to solve the housing problems in those societies.”
Housing model and ‘obstacles’
Guyana has moved from an area where there was “shortage of housing to becoming an example for others in different areas.” But he mentioned the “obstacles” in the way.
President Ramotar talked about the battle in the Parliament with the Anti- Money Laundering Bill, “a deliberate ploy by those who harbour the idea that they can make things bad in our country…and they can make things better for themselves, politically.”
He said that the opposition are prepared to sacrifice the welfare of the ordinary man “in the hope that they can make some political gains and benefits….the same people who took our country which was the most developed country in the Caribbean in 1964 and made it the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere…the same people, who in the 1960’s, when they were in the opposition, were promising people free milk and cassava, but destroyed the country in the process.”
He also spoke about the opposition’s lack of support for the Speciality Hospital and Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project, as well as the new Cheddi Jagan Airport and the Marriott Hotel.
“Therefore, I want to say to you that these are obstacles, those we, together- you and I- that we can overcome— we need your support; we need your understanding…”
Also delivering remarks were Mr. Jhagroo and Dr. Leslie Chin of Demerara Bank Limited. The event runs until July 28 and over eighty companies are participating.
After declaring the event opened, Ramotar and the other officials began the tour of the booths, among of the first which was the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo).

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