Georgetown : Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy said that in this first protracted period of dry weather, the sugar industry has benefitted significantly from the weather as the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) realised a production of more than 52,000 tonnes of sugar for the current crop.
“We recall in the first crop that they recorded 71,000 tonnes…this crop so far they have recorded 52,000 tonnes…we are hoping that this crop will exceed 160,000 tonnes which will make it a very successful crop,” the Agriculture Minister said.
He explained that with this kind of weather it is certain that in excess of 160,000 tonnes of sugar will be achieved, as most of the sugar estates are currently meeting their targets.
“When a sugar estate attains its target the workers achieve bonus pay…so the workers have been earning an extra day’s pay because they are reaching the target in virtually all of the estates,” he said.
Minister Ramsammy added that the Skeldon Estate should be of major interest as, since its commission has had factory problems, which were scheduled to be addressed by Bosch Engineering from South Africa this year.
“The Bosh Engineer’s remedial work is not going to start until the end of this crop…Skeldon is producing at a level that it has never achieved from its commissioning to now…it is meeting its target even without remedial work…the target for this crop in terms of TCTS (tones of canes to tones of sugar) is 13…It was expected that Skeldon would have performed a TCTS of 13…they have averaged for this crop, a TCTS of 11,” Minister Ramsammy explained.
He added to average a TCTS of 11 demonstrates that Skeldon is not the white elephant that people say it is, moreso persons should know that for a factory to operate at the level it was constructed for, it would take years of operation before it does so.
“Skeldon is still in its teething period and even without the Bosh Engineering’s remedial work it is now achieving at expectations…the workers are really excited and are enthused,” Minister Ramsammy said.
He explained that this level of production means more money in the pockets for the farmers, as the more sugar produced per tonne, the more money is paid to them.
“It means that whatever tonnage the private cane farmers deliver, you are getting more sugar therefore they are earning more money…this means that with completing the remedial work, Skeldon will in fact function to expectation,” Minister Ramsammy said.
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