President Donald Ramotar says that several delegations are expected to visit Guyana very soon to explore possibilities of working with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and possibly invest.
According to GINA he was speaking on one of the highlights of his recent visit to the Indian sub-continent. He described his tour to a sugar factory in the state of Gujarat as a revealing experience. GINA said that he noted that the factory is managed as a cooperative, with farmers and workers vested with ownership.
According to the President, the factory produces all the needed power for its daily operations, as well as sells its excess bagasse to other industries in its home state. Apart from producing several kinds of sugar, this factory also handles the crop’s by-products.
He told GINA that he was informed that the factory had half of an hour’s down time over the last six months.
Ramotar opined that the method of ownership and other aspects of the factory’s operations are issues which can inform Guyana’s situation.
Analysts have said that the local sugar industry is in dire straits and several attempts by the sugar corporation to reverse this in recent years have ended in failure. The main sugar union GAWU recently called for a Commission of Inquiry into the state of the industry.
