Amidst public scrutiny of his government’s vision for a revitalised Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuco), President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has made it clear that there is no contradiction between advancing technology and pursuing diversification.
Both are critical pillars of the same strategy. That is, positioning GuySuCo as an important facet of national development with emphasis on building a sustainable industry.
“I’ve said this before. We have to mechanise, we have to use technology…so we can bring down costs and increase revenue, increase profitability,” the president said.
President Ali clarified the government’s position in an exclusive comment to the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Monday, in response to criticisms by Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram.
Ram, in the Sunday Stabroek News, suggested that the focus on modernisation, as articulated by GuySuCo’s Chairman Paul Cheong, conflicts with the government’s broader strategy for diversification. President Ali dismissed that argument, saying that GuySuCo’s recovery requires both technological innovation and diversification of crops.
Given labour shortages and production targets, he said, mechanisation is essential.
Precision farming, factory upgrades, and energy-efficient systems are all necessary to reduce costs and boost output. But, according to President Ali, modernisation does not mean cutting people out of the process.
“GuySuCo has always been a labour-intensive operation…So, in doing this, we have to find ways in which we can maximise the opportunities for the workers in GuySuCo. That is where diversification must lead us,” he explained.
During the 77th Commemoration of the Enmore Martyrs, President Ali announced that by leveraging the existing human capital and technology at GuySuCo, the government is examining plans to strategically reimagine the mandate of the Corporation to become a hub of rural development.
He posited that GuySuCo could support the production of other crops like rice, corn and cassava, thereby diversifying production to boost income.
According to the president, the diversification strategy is not just about planting new crops. It is about creating new income streams through the creation of co-investments opportunities for workers, alternative uses of GuySuCo’s vast land assets and expanded services to tap into the state agency’s existing technical expertise
“Those are the things that are all captured in that ecosystem when we speak about modernisation,” the president said. “Modernisation is not only about plant and equipment. Modernisation also is about new ideas.”
The government’s transformation plan also includes upskilling workers to operate in a modern industry. Workers will even be given opportunities to co-own parts of the mechanisation process, such as harvesting and transport, turning them into stakeholders.
“If workers are part of owning the system, they feel like shareholders,” the President noted. “That creates real opportunity and long-term motivation… And that is what Christoper Ram is missing, either deliberately…or I don’t know, he’s locked in ink on paper.”
Addressing Ram’s criticism that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration’s latest plans for sugar is a knee-jerk reaction, President Ali responded by saying that “Mr Christopher Ram is sailing. Because we have a clearly defined strategy.”
He made it clear that policymaking is not theory. “It is making real-life decisions for real people to ensure sustainability [and] to ensure success.”
During 2016-2017, the APNU+AFC administration closed down four sugar estates; (Wales, East Demerara, Rose Hall, and Skeldon), sending thousands of sugar workers and families into poverty.
Following five years of deterioration and neglect, the PPP/C administration began to revive the sugar industry beginning in 2020, through investments in mechanisation, enhanced facilities and the reemployment of thousands of workers.
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