By Abena Rockliffe
The year 2024 has been a good one for the agriculture sector in Guyana, to the extent that subject Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha was able to boast at his end of year press conference, calling Guyana the Agri-giant of the Caribbean. Of course, he did not miss the opportunity to note that under the rule of the previous government, Guyana took its finger off the pulse of the region’s agriculture sector. Mustapha noted that he rescued the chairmanship of Caricom’s ministerial taskforce as it had shifted to St Vincent and the Grenadines when President David Granger was in charge of Guyana.
Now, agriculture is thriving and the region is close to achieving its 25 by 2025 goal later on this year.
Guyana has been doing quite well in its efforts to boost self-sufficiency as moves have been made on several fronts. The highly touted corn and soya bean project has been moving along successfully. By the end of this year, Guyana is projected to be capable of supplying all the corn and soya needed for its poultry industry.
Fisheries is doing well as brackish water shrimp production takes lead. In fact, production moved to 1.28 million kg in 2024.
The Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) also saw much success with its embryo transfer programme, the Barbados black belly sheep project and for the first time produced 144,886 broiler eggs. The production of broiler eggs is anticipated to multiply, to the extent where Guyana may become self-sufficient by the end of this year.
The Guyana Marketing Corporation also commissioned three agro-processing facilities, two in Region One and the other in Region Four.
Last but definitely, not least, rice. Rice can be considered the star of the industry for 2024 as it surpassed its targeted production. Rice output actually reached a record high of 725,282 metric tonnes. This included several varieties, both traditional and new.
Of course, there are several other achievements that were highlighted when Minister Mustapha spoke for well over two hours in boardroom, including the production and introduction (of being produced in Guyana) of fruits, herbs and spices and even provision.
The so-called blemish on Guyana’s agricultural fabric during 2024 was sugar which failed to meet targeted production of between 60,000 and 70,000 tonnes.
Unaudited Sugar Production data for 2024 stood at 47,103 tonnes, representing a 21% or 13,101 tonnes shortfall in production in 2024 as compared to 2023’s production of 60,207.5 tonnes.
Speaking about the state of the sugar industry at his last press conference, Mustapha noted that during the rule of the last administration, 7,000 sugar workers were placed on the bread line.
He recalled that this caused a rippling effect throughout rural Demerara and Berbice, affecting thousands more living in communities that depend on the industry.
“While four sugar estates were closed, the three remaining estates that were reluctantly kept open were left to limp along with little to no capital investments during the APNU/AFC tenure.
By the time we entered office, sugar production had plummeted, and GuySuCo was in dire financial straits,” Mustapha lamented.
Successive Presidents have been faced with the problem of a deteriorating sugar industry and successive presidents have failed to find a conclusive solution. Now it is President’s Irfaan Ali’s turn, and almost at the end of his first term in office he does not seem close to finding the answer.
The President was recently quoted in the press saying, “I have read the riot act to the management of GuySuCo, I have let them understand that we are very dissatisfied with the performance, notwithstanding the difficulties that we know they have.”
Ali noted that while heavy investments were made to prepare the fields and planting the cane, issues with the poorly maintained factories contributed to the shortfall.
“They brought together an investment plan that is needed to keep the factory working, to keep the factory efficient. We have supported that investment plan.”
Ali is now threatening to fire senior management staffers if first and second crop targets for 2025 are not met. This threat, the investment plan and some supplementing strategies represent the hope for this industry in 2025.
Below are the proposed strategies
Strategies to achieve 2025 Sugar Production
To enhance operational efficiency and productivity, the following strategies will be implemented:
1. Increasing TCH (tonnes cane per hectare) through Planting Density : This will entail implementing a strategy to increase the Tonne of Cane per Hectare (TCH) by adopting Double Row Planting or High-Density Planting Techniques. This will maximize land utilization and potentially increase cane yields while reducing the growth of weeds.
2. Increase Mechanization in Planting Operations: This approach will see a shift from predominantly manual and semi-mechanized planting methods to more extensive mechanized approaches. This will enable simultaneous fertilizer application during planting, reducing volatility and overall costs while enhancing crop health.
3. Procurement of two Billet Harvesters to enhance mechanical harvesting.
4. Allocate resources to upgrade factories for processing extraneous materials from green canes harvested.
5. Intensifying training, particularly in craft skills to fulfill the needs of the Corporation.
Overall, there seems to be no earth-shattering interventions to rescue the sugar industry from its ailing state this is election year but maybe the President has some tricks up his sleeve.
