If the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) misses its early 2025 production targets, there will be consequences. This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali.
The head-of-state disclosed that he met with the management of GuySuCo and he read the Riot Act to them. Speaking during an interview aired on Saturday night, President Ali said, “I don’t shy away from issues as challenging as they may be, I’ve read the Riot Act to the management of GuySuCo. I’ve let them understand that we are very dissatisfied with the performance…”
He highlighted the persistent downtime in factories as a major hindrance to production, pointing out that while investments have focused on rehabilitating fields, the neglected state of factories has severely impacted production.
“They focus on factories that were left abundant and left shut down for a long time, the maintenance of these factories was non-existent. So, they break down and they shut down time in factories would have impacted the production tremendously,” Ali explained.
The president revealed that the government has approved an investment plan from GuySuCo’s management to address these shortcomings. However, he emphasized that the corporation must now deliver measurable results.
“So, I made it very clear that if the target for 2025, the first crop target and the second target, if the target is not achieved…then heads will roll. If those targets are not achieved, heads will roll,” he warned.
This warning comes in the wake of GuySuCo’s failure to meet its 2024 production targets. As of October, the company had only achieved 39 percent of its 63,276-tonne target for the year. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had previously disclosed that President Ali had directed Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha to meet with stakeholders and provide a detailed report on GuySuCo’s underperformance.
The PPP/C administration has made significant investments in revitalizing GuySuCo, including $8.1 billion in 2023, leading to a 28 percent increase in sugar production compared to 2022. However, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) had raised concerns about the production rates and questioned the competency of GuySuCo’s management amid this year’s poor performance.
