Sugar is a dead horse in Guyana and we should stop flogging it

Jun 19, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The sugar industry is but a dead horse in Guyana that we should stop flogging.  We should instead seek international help. And that help, combined with local expertise and the knowledge of those who have years of working in the sector, should lead us to the best way forward for the sugar industry.
Many people would not want to accept the fact that sugar is but ‘dead’, even though they know it so to be.  One of the main reasons for the ostrich-like attitude relates to the 16,000 people who depend on the industry for their livelihood as well as the industry’s relegation to being a political football. However, it will be better if policy makers countenance the reality sooner than later.
In 2009, I was interviewed for a senior position in GUYSUSO. After the formal question and answer period, the esteemed panel asked me what I thought of GUYSUCO.  They asked me to be forthright, and assured me that whatever I said would not have prejudiced the outcome of the interview, for which I was told sometime after that I was the leading candidate for the position.
I am not an expert in the sugar industry but I keep abreast with information about the plight of the local sector as well as the world sugar market. As a former practicing journalist and communicator, I maintain a healthy knowledge of all matters of national interests. I told the panel exactly what I thought. I said that sugar was ‘dead’ in Guyana as a commodity that we can sell competitively in Europe and other international markers. I said GUYSUCO’s cost of production was high, the quality of product was poor, the technology used was old, and the number of people employed too many. I opined that the company should scale down production – produce sugar for local consumption, a higher grade for regional markets, and that we find a couple of niche markets for which specialised products should be manufactured. I further opined that some of the sugar lands could be given out to sugar workers to plant, to other groups in cooperatives, and some given to individuals who were financially able to farm the land.
On concluding my suggestions, I got a pleasant surprise. The entire high-level interviewing panel agreed with me. They did not necessarily agree with the measures I proposed but rather that sugar was ‘dead’ and that the industry needed reengineering. However, they indicated that they could not tell the powers that be what they really thought.
Six years after that interview, GUYSUCO is in no better position. It has lost any semblance of competitiveness. Its cost of operation and production is still high, with wages and energy remaining the centres of highest costs. Its technology has not improved to make a difference in production. The Skeldon Sugar Factory, which should have been the mother of all sugar factories in Guyana, is yet to become operational, if ever.  Real management acumen over the affairs of the company has been in question, and political motives seemed to have taken precedence over sound management practices and good corporate governance.
If GUYSUCO is to remain a viable industry, its future will depend on its competitiveness.  These questions must be answered. Can GUYSUCO produce sugar at the same cost or lower than the 48 countries that produce larger volumes of sugar than the local industry? Can GUYUCO compete in the open marketplace?
The keys to the organisation’s success will be in its ability to improve efficiency, reduce production costs, find cheaper alternative sources of energy (baggase for example), and transforming the industry’s labour intensive nature through mechanisation. Consideration should also be given to integrated production of sugar and ethanol.
The driver of any transformation will be leadership, management, and political will. Since public ownership has failed, there is now every reason to try privatisation or private management with public ownership.  I do recall that sometime before the change of Government in 1992, the initial process for GUYSUCO’s divestment had begun.  This initiative was later abandoned. I also recall that Booker Tate was involved in the management of GUYSUCO, but that experiment failed for reasons yet to be discovered.
What is clear is that the Guyana Sugar Industry needs help urgently. I do hope that those who are charged with pointing the way forward under the new Government Administration will be more courageous than the panel of interviewers who knew what should have been done about GUYSUCO but were too afraid to say.
Lennox Cornette
Communications Specialist

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