Dear Editor,
The deferment of the management shake-up at GuySuCo could well be a blessing if it enables the sugar industry’s stakeholders as well as its critics to analyse soberly why 2008 production was so disappointing. Per-haps, they may even make some New Year resolutions for a more informed and positive view of this vital activity.
It would seem that whenever there is a news item about GuySuCo, there are a flood of Internet comments, mostly from overseas-based Guyanese. Some of these comments are smart and perceptive, others I regret to state, are devoid of constructive merit.
One promising aspect, however, is the great ease with which the Internet has facilitated an exchange and even the shaping of ideas, and I have accordingly wondered whether the Guyanese diaspora which professes a love for the homeland, cannot mobilise its efforts in the manner I describe below.
There does not now appear to be a great deal that can be expected in respect of the EU price for bulk raw sugar. Even the excellent packaged Demerara Gold is subject to individual choice for our Caribbean neighbours. But for Guyanese living in the USA and Canada and elsewhere, a preference based on patriotism could ensure that Demerara Gold could be the only brand chosen for the kitchen and breakfast table, even though competing brands may be less costly. Guyanese owners of eating-places as well might ensure the prominence of Demerara Gold. Guyanese as a whole might indulge in some unofficial sales pitches to persuade their non-Guyanese friends and colleagues to switch from sweeteners to the ‘real thing.’
I do not know for sure whether GuySuCo’s own marketing efforts are presently directed at the Guyanese North American diaspora for example, and there may well be something going. But Internet cross-communication by individuals, as with SN, may help.
We often hear that as many Guyanese who live in Guyana itself, live ‘outside,’ − the substantive Guyanese diaspora. It used to be said that sugar consumption in a developed country was 40-50 kilograms per capita per year, but this of course included sugar used in manufacturing. But even if the actual crystal sugar used in tea, coffee, cereal, home-made drinks, etc, was taken as 25 kilograms per capita per year, this is a market demand of more than 15,000 tonnes annually.
When the New Skeldon sugar factory gets going in the New Year, some of the ‘hi-tech’ sugar coming off the line could be packaged and imaginatively marketed as, say, Corentyne Crystal, or even as Skeldon Sparkle. The sugar will probably look and taste the same as the conventional product, but what a powerful symbol and conversation piece it would be among the Guyanese diaspora and their North American offspring.
Yours faithfully,
Josh Ragnauth
This letter appeared in the comments on the Stabroek News website.
