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Govt. seeking $1.5B more to rehabilitate abandoned lands at four GuySuCo estates
Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha
Kaieteur News – After receiving $4 billion this year in the National Assembly to support the ailing sugar sector, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is seeking an addition $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of abandoned lands at the four Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) estates.
According to the third financial paper submitted to the National Assembly that will be debated today, the Agriculture Ministry is seeking a total of $5,610,000,000.
Notably, the $1.5 billion in additional revenue will be utilized to rehabilitate 1,572 hectares of temporary abandoned lands at Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall and Uitvlugt Estates.
Additionally, the Ministry is seeking $2.5 billion added resources for the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA); $437.8 million for the National Agricultural Research Institute and $25.4 million for the Guyana Marketing Corporation. It noted that the resources would support its expanded work programme.
Meanwhile, the Ministry has requested $4 billion more for urgent drainage and irrigation works in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five and 10.
It is also seeking $100 million more to facilitate pasture development by the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA).
The additional resources will be scrutinized by the Opposition in Parliament today.
It must be noted that despite billions being pumped into the sugar sector over the past years, the industry has been consistently declining.
During the Budget debates earlier this year, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha revealed plans to reshuffle the management team to ensure production is boosted this year.
Opposition Members had raised concerns over the constant failure of the sector to meet production targets earlier this year, while pointing to the large investments into the industry.
The sugar sector is estimated to have declined by 18.9 percent in 2022, with sugar production for the year totaling 47,049 tonnes. Government said this performance was largely due to the lingering effects of the 2021 floods, which caused lower yields per hectare and reduced cane quality, as well as technical challenges encountered in the first half of 2022.
This year, the administration believes that the subsector is projected to recover and expand by some 29.3 percent, as expressed by Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh during the presentation of the 2023 Budget.
The Bank of Guyana (BoG) in its first quarter Report for 2023 reported that the sugar sector increased by 14.7 percent to 10,003 metric tons, when compared to the same period, last year. The Bank said this performance was as a result of favourable weather conditions, which provided for better quality cane and for easier harvesting.
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