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- President Ali threatens GuySuCo again for missing several targets
President Ali threatens GuySuCo again for missing several targets
(Kaieteur News) – President Irfaan Ali on Friday again threatened the management of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) with a ‘shake-up’ if the company continues to underperform, and miss its targets.
Speaking at his first press conference for the year, the head of state was asked to provide an update on the sugar company and his warning since 2024.
“You will see the action. I can say to you very clearly that we are investing in GuySuCo. I believe that we will move to a phase of having discussions of course with the union and so on and aspects of ownership but you’ll definitely see action on some of these estates that have not performed. There must be especially… at the senior management level and the head office and these places… the estates there need to be some rationalization,” he said.
President Irfaan Ali
The head-of-state assured that if there is need for greater technical input, there is a team of technicians that government is in discussions with, who are ready to step in and assist where needed, so that there is no gap and smooth transition where needed.
This is not the first time the president has threatened the management of the corporation. Back in December of 2024, the president during an interview with reporters admitted to being aware of the challenges the corporation faces and referenced the sector’s underperformance.
He went was quoted in a Department of Public Information (DPI) press release saying that failure to meet specific targets will result in decisive managerial actions. “We sat down with them [and] they brought together an investment plan that is needed to keep the factory efficient. We have supported that investment plan [and] I have made it very clear that if the target for 2025 (first and second crop target) is not met, then heads will roll.”
The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration continues to pour billions of tax payers’ dollars into the ailing GuySuCo in spite of the mediocre results it continues to yield. Over the years there has been a decline in performance in terms of production.
According to reports in 2024, GuySuCo only produced 6,739 metric tonnes of sugar of its 16,000 metric tonnes target for its first crop and also failed to meet its second crop target. Fast forward 2025, in the months following the president’s warning closed that year failing its reduced final crop target of 60,000 metric tonnes with its production of approximately 59,200 metric tonnes of sugar. This was another consecutive year of missed production targets, as the final total was below initial target of 80,000 metric tonnes.
The 2026 budgetary allocation for the sugar sector represents a $100M increase from 2025. In his presentation, Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh said that the government will continue to restore the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to financial viability and long-term sustainability. “In the last five years, we reopened the Rose Hall Estate, and upgraded the field and factory infrastructure at Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall and Uitvlugt, which together, re-energised the previously devastated local rural economy. We also remodeled the marketing and sales mix from bulk sugar to higher value products and provided direct economic support to over 5,200 severed workers. Today, more than 8,300 persons are employed in the sector,” he said.
However, the opposition parties have repeatedly criticized the government for the way in which it handles the sugar industry. In 2025, Former Director of Agriculture and Member of Parliament (MP) for the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Vishnu Panday said that the government’s approach has resulted in GuySuCo becoming a commercial failure.
Panday told Kaieteur News in an invited comment that GuySuCo is a state-run entity that has been hampered by political influence causing it to fail. “This is not because Guyanese don’t have the skills to cultivate sugar on a profitable basis…but it is because of the political influence and political appointments,” Panday said.
He reasoned that with the world’s population being about eight billion people as of the December 2024 census, if there are three billion homes, every single one utilises sugar in some form. Sugar is also used in the confectionary as well in pharmacology, baking and other industries.
“So, to put it in economic terms… Sugar is not an outdated item. It is an item in economics that we call supply and demand. Sugar is in great demand, as it used to be hundreds of years ago, and it is at present and it will continue to be in the future,” he said.
In January 2026, Shadow Minister of Agriculture and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP) Vinceroy Jordan said that GuySuCo’s failure to meet its 2025 target is a result of government’s continued use of a failed model.
“The failure of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to meet its 2025 sugar production target is not surprising—it is disappointing, costly, and entirely predictable. What is shocking, however, is the continued refusal of the Minister of Agriculture to accept responsibility for this ongoing national embarrassment. [GuySuCo] has consistently revised its initial targets for every year it has set since 2020 to the point that it even revised its revised targets and still failed to meet same,” he said.
Jordan reminded that he has repeatedly issued warnings in the National Assembly that the corporation was bound to fail because of the approach taken by the government. Instead, he said his warnings were ignored, arrogantly brushed aside and dismissed by the minister “who instead chose propaganda over planning and excuses over execution.”
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Sir. Ronald Sanders
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Mr President,
We’ll continue to miss all targets once we use the current method of cultivation. We need to get back to the old system of mid-crop irrigation to purge the soil on entrained sea salt. It’s that sea salt which is responsible for the stunted cane growth (low sugar yield). I’m prepared to come home and spearhead the change. It might take 3-5 years to achieve. Please give me a chance?
Yours sincerely,
Ken Seecharran.