Activity: Public seminar
Host: Moray House Trust
Date: Friday 25th September 2015
On Friday evening Moray House Trust hosted a seminar where a panel of four experts presented their views on the sugar industry in Guyana. The most newsworthy aspect of the evening was probably the size and composition of the audience. In at attempt to canvass different opinions and reach a variety of interest groups, Moray House Trust issued invitations to an extensive guest list prior to the event. Despite follow-up, there were no representatives on Friday evening from GuySuCo, the Commission of Inquiry, Caricom, the print media, the local rum producers or the diplomatic corps in attendance. In fact, only a couple of dozen souls (including a minister, a major manufacturer of local confectionary and members of the Guyana Agricultural Workers Union) turned out to discuss the fate of the centuries-old industry which most of our forebears came here to serve and which still employs thousands of our countrymen.
There were indications, prior to the event, that some of those invited, for example a group of cane farmers, were fearful of airing their views in public and ultimately chose neither to participate nor attend. There were also suggestions from other quarters that the seminar was premature or ill-timed given the existence of a formal Inquiry into the industry. The Trust regards both responses as firm evidence of the pressing need to continue to provide a public forum for debate about topics of national significance and hopes sincerely that the poor showing was not indicative of an overwhelming indifference in the corridors of power to the fate of sugar in Guyana.
The other striking aspect of Friday’s event was how convincing a case could be made both for and against the continuation of sugar. Dr Allyson Stoll showed that, in the nineteenth century, the industry faced equally daunting challenges (for example in terms of labour shortages and access to markets). She provided fascinating insights into the quality and depth of scientific research and development that took place and how these underpinned progress: engineers on plantations in British Guiana designed and pioneered new tools and machinery in their cane fields and factories which were subsequently patented and adopted elsewhere. Others, after diligent trials and research, successfully bred new strains of cane which were exported to many other countries. Dr Stoll highlighted the absence of a cane-breeding programme and indeed any formal structure for research and development as a signal omission at present.
Rawle Lucas presented a sober assessment of the sugar industry and highlighted the importance of fiscal prudence and public accountability in charting a course for GuySuCo, a public enterprise. He pointed out that Guyana is a marginal player in the international sugar market, a market characterised by increasingly competitive pricing at a time when Guyana’s production costs are spiralling. In his presentation, entitled, ‘Sugar and Guyana, An Exasperating Relationship’, Mr Lucas identified several areas of concern: the structure of ownership of the components of the industry, the element of risk involved at all levels and the size of the debt incurred by GuySuCo. He cited statistics to show that, of approximately 1700 strike actions since 1986, 95% occurred in the sugar industry and he reminded the audience that employment represents two-thirds of industry costs at present.
Barry Newton, whose familiarity with the sugar industry in Guyana extends over a period of 50 years, presented a paper (read by the moderator) on the markets for Guyana sugar. In it, he echoed Mr Lucas’s bleak assessment of Guyana’s prospects for assured sales in Europe and spoke of a ‘seismic shift’ in traditional arrangements when the second phase of the reform to the Common Agricultural Policy and Sugar Regime Reform takes effect in October 2017. He highlighted the need to refocus on markets closer to home, principally within Caricom, and the failure of Caricom and Cariforum to seriously address this. Mr Newton pointed to the potential for a substantial expansion into North Caribbean markets, particularly Haiti, a ‘key potential consumer with no production facilities and a fast growing population of about 10 million’.
Vic Oditt, who chaired the Board of GuySuCo for a decade, made a spirited case for ‘Restoring GuySuCo to Profitability’ in the final presentation of the evening. He contextualised some of the statistics being repeated in the media and queried the disposal of significant land assets belonging to GuySuCo for which the entity has never received payment. Echoing Barry Newton, Mr Oditt spoke of the need for a completely new approach to growing sugar where the possibilities of co-generation, ethanol production and added value (e.g rum production) are fully exploited and sugar itself is a ‘byproduct’.
One area of absolute consensus among all of the presenters was that yields must be improved. Mr Oditt described a trial scheme at Uitvlugt in 2001-2002 where gangs of workers were given plots to self-manage and were paid incentives if yields increased. The success of this system of ‘incentive-based husbandry’ was such that one would have expected it to be repeated and extended to other plantations. This was not the case.
Questions from the audience ranged from the technical to the economic. A farmer queried some of the techniques used to transport and cut cane. Mr Komal Chand, the sugar workers’ representative, pleaded for greater involvement of the sugar workers in decision-making. There was even some discussion as to whether local investors might not receive a better rate of return from investing in sugar and spin-off industries than from the banks.
The Trust hopes to organise a similar discussion about aspects of the rice industry in Guyana within the next few months.
Video Clips
1: Highlights: The Sugar Industry in Guyana
You Tube Link: https://youtu.be/OWZBLDqjjCI
2: Highlights: Not for want of ‘go-aheadism’ in field and factory: sugar and technology in C19 Guyana
You Tube Link: https://youtu.be/uGrjxV9pumo
3: Highlights: Sugar and Guyana: an exasperating relationship
You Tube Link: https://youtu.be/GuCS_Uf7WOs
4: The Markets for Guyana Sugar
You Tube Link: https://youtu.be/R0AMZOsYd-A
5: Restoring GuySuCo to Profitability:
You Tube Link: https://youtu.be/axeDQucyozY