GuySuCo’s Slow Death: Patronage Over Profit, Nostalgia Over Necessity

Feb 27, 2026 Letters

Dear Editor,

Lancelot Hyman’s Kaieteur News letter rightly blasts GuySuCo’s $15-19 billion 2025 taxpayer bailouts and 355,000 tonnes of unharvested cane as indefensible, demanding “structural change.” But his fix—swap political hacks for Brazilian pros—scratches the surface of a patronage machine that’s squandered science, goodwill, and billions, dooming any 2030 profitability dream under the current setup.

Hyman’s shock at 301,000 tonnes of “prime” 2025 cane rotting alongside 54,000 tonnes of two-year-old 2024 decay rests on a crude rule: 13% recoverable sugar at 12 months, plunging to 11% after. That’s not how cane works. Harvest calls turn on field-lab data—sucrose (pol), brix, purity, CCS—not calendars. Early varieties like B69/71 peak at 10-11 months; late ones like BD69/79 hold value longer in dry soils. Leaving cane standing often means smart triage: skip low-pol, high-fibre fields when factories idle from transport jams, labour gaps, or when crushing costs top world prices at ~US$0.18/lb.

His $1.1 billion rehab tab ignores that decayed ratoons often underperform fresh plantings; real “loss” needs sampled CCS, not napkin math.

Worse, Hyman dodges the killer math: Guyana’s costs (~US$500+/tonne) crush revenues (~US$400/tonne at 10-11% recovery). Cane-to-sugar ratios lag Brazil’s 8-9% thanks to tired varieties, soggy drainage, and factories huffing at 60-70% capacity.

Labour—CARICOM-low at G$50,000/month—still devours 40-50% of outlays because gangs limp at 4-6 tonnes/day versus 10+ abroad. Over 100 tractors since 2020? Dead weight without field-factory rhythm or clonal seed upgrades. No board—from Cheong to imported wizards—turns black ink if prices stay flat.

Pin this on Paul Cheong (PPP Central Committee), Sasenarine Singh, and Threbowan Shivprashad—political animals, not agronomists—who let 67% of harvesters miss targets, starving factories despite “investments.” GAWU cements 8,000 jobs as vote banks; while political hacks gets shielded. Billions for mechanization, rehab, and mills vanish into fog, smelling of personal gain and Regent Street rallies over field science. Granger-era progress (less standing cane pre-2024) crumbled not just from floods, but PPP’s patronage parade—zero cane credentials, all politics. Minister Mustapha mouths 2030 profits; President Ali vows “heads will roll” sans purge. That 2019-2023 competence? Torched.

Science could patch it—precision sampling, hybrid seeds, cogeneration, output-tied pay—but patronage poisons every fix. Cheong’s team chases side hustles; unions rig hours sans results. Auditors like Ram clock the ATM drain; insiders know factories choke on overaged, fibrous cane. Political hacks dread job axe equals vote bleed, so estates stagger as welfare traps.

Enough nostalgia. Ditch sugar. Flip 120,000 hectares to palm oil (20x yield/hectare, CARICOM-hungry), citrus, aquaculture—hijacking drainage grids, roads, and mills already sunk in. Palm alone could net G$200-300M/hectare versus sugar’s G$50-70M. Save the human capital: retrain 8,000 souls for higher-wage roles in orchards, ponds, or processing.

Sell estates to consortia—India’s Balrampur, Brazil’s Raizen—barred from politics. Clawback past capex flops via audits; tie boards to performance or bust.

Hyman echoes Ram: state as an ATM for the industry. Revival demands killing patronage, not swapping politicos for expats. Guyana’s fields crave paying futures; while taxpayers demand leaders with spine. Transform holistically—experiment boldly with crops—or watch sugar, and trust, rot for good

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