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Sugar industry “boom” a sham – APNU slams PPP for ‘wasted billions, broken promises’
(Kaieteur News) – Shadow Minister of Agriculture and APNU MP Vinceroy Jordan has dismissed the government’s claims that Guyana’s sugar industry grew by over 100%, calling the PPP/C’s 2025 Mid-Year Report “misleading propaganda.”
The report claims sugar production expanded 136.7% compared to the first half of 2024, but Jordan says the figures are misleading, based on comparisons with failed targets and ignoring ongoing shortfalls. According to him, GUYSUCO fell short of its 2024 and 2025 targets, producing just 47,103 tonnes in 2024 against a goal of 63,276 tonnes, despite over $45 billion in taxpayer subsidies since 2020.
Shadow Minister of Agriculture and Member of Parliament for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Vinceroy Jordan.
Even with $13.3 billion in additional 2025 funding, first crop results continue the declining trend, leaving the government’s ambitious modernisation promises unfulfilled. Factories remain inefficient, workers demoralised, and targets missed yet, no accountability has been enforced, the APNU said. Jordan warned, “The PPP must stop using GUYSUCO as a political tool. Sugar workers and taxpayers deserve honesty, efficiency, and leadership — not empty speeches and broken promises.”
In a statement to the media on Thursday Jordan said the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) regime continues to mislead the public with its exaggerated claims the sugar industry’s performance. He stressed that the 2025 Mid Year Report is saying that sugar expanded by 136.7% the facts tell a different story, one off failure, waste, and broken promises.
“Where the reporting is done in comparison to sugar produced on a previously failed target, and excludes sugar produced against the current set targets. The fact is, GUYSUCO failed to reach its set target both years (2024-2025),” the MP highlighted.
He went on to say that the industry by the government’s own admission in 2024 contracted by about 60.4% by mid last year and by the end of the year there was a 21.85% of the total production in comparison to 2023.
“Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has been boasting about the progress at Rose Hall and Blairmont estates early in March of this year, but according to the 2025 Mid-Year Report, GUYSUCO remains far behind its own ambitious targets. After more than $45 billion in taxpayer funding since 2020, the government has little to show for its so-called “revitalisation” efforts. In 2024, GUYSUCO produced just 47,103 tonnes of sugar, well below its target of 63,276 tonnes,” the MP pointed out.
Jordan highlighted that now in 2025 in spite of an additional $13.3 billion in subsidies, the sugar corporation first crop results were disappointing, continuing the downward trend, “… the 100,000-tonne target is already slipping out of reach. This is not progress — it is a repetition of failure. The PPP continues to make big promises about modernisation, mechanisation, and new equipment they have spent billions on, yet production continues to decline, factories remain inefficient, and workers are demoralised,” he added.
Jordan noted that even though the government talks about harvesters and automation, it cannot hide the truth, that the sugar industry under the PPP regime is sinking deeper into dependency and mismanagement. He reminded that, “President Irfaan Ali had boldly declared that “heads will roll” if GUYSUCO failed to meet its 2025 first crop targets. Well, the targets have been missed again, and not a single head has rolled. Instead, the same excuses are recycled year after year while billions more are wasted. The PPP must stop using GUYSUCO as a political tool to win sympathy and votes in sugar belt communities.”
Lamenting that the citizens deserve results and not propaganda, he stated that until the government can deliver real improvements in productivity, accountability, and worker welfare, there is absolutely nothing to celebrate. In light of this, “The Opposition will continue to hold the government accountable for every cent spent and every promise broken. Sugar workers and taxpayers deserve honesty, efficiency, and leadership not empty speeches and failed targets,” he assured.
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