In the wake of challenges facing the sugar industry, the National Cane Farmers’ Committee was resuscitated and held its’ first meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture boardroom yesterday.
It was revealed that private cane farmers are currently supplying 20,000 tonnes of sugar when, with the land in their control, they have the capacity to supply 80,000.
Addressing the committee, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud noted that it was necessary to resuscitate the body because of the need to ensure private cane farmers are supported and to ensure a turn-around in the industry in the wake of price cuts. He said too that another important point was for the farmers to have good relations with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), who, he noted, has been providing tremendous support to cane farmers.
The Agriculture Minister said that there are a number of plans and initiatives to work with cane farmers and urged that production be increased. “We must increase the share of sugarcane coming from our private cane-farmers”, he stated.
He added that the Ministry along with the Labour Ministry had started the process of reviewing co-operative societies (Co-ops) to see how they are functioning. Asked by a committee member about land, Persaud said that lots of co-ops were not using the land allocated to them and this was one of the things the committee could look at. He noted that the emphasis should be on land already allocated. He said that on the existing land, private cane farmers can supply 80,000 tonnes but currently only supply 20,000 tonnes.
A farmer said that the land was there but the question was about acquiring it and Persaud noted that the land is already controlled by private farmers but many members of co-ops are no longer around. Concern was also raised about the high price of fertilizer and the minister disclosed that he was drafting a cabinet memo to explore how to find a way around this.
Chief Executive of GuySuCo, Nick Jackson, in brief remarks informed the committee that the corporation is in the final stage of negotiation with a company for a long term contract to sell sugar in the United Kingdom.
