Dear Editor
I have not written to the press for a long time. I was born on a sugar estate and I grew up on one. All my family worked in sugar. My cousins worked there also and one as field secretary to GAWU. My father worked for free then he became a sample boy then rose to be a manager. I spent a lot of time roaming the factory at Rose Hall Estate. I enjoyed catching fish in the abandoned fields. It’s funny, but the managers would chase people fishing there, but when they saw me they would say, “Hello Bisessar” as they knew me.
At university I did one of my long papers on sugar. I recall Fred Sukdeo did a paper on sugar. You know I think he might have been the best person to head the CoI ‒ even if I say so myself.
I recall the six weeks’ strike involving bauxite and sugar. The transport workers and the public servants did not join in the strike, but they all benefited from the 40% increase.
I was a teacher then. I woke up every morning at 5 am and I went with my cousin, the field secretary, to meet and organize the workers. I held meetings with the workers and joined in the organization and collection of food destined for the striking bauxite workers.
The flow to bauxite workers by GAWU was so effective the GDF invaded GAWU headquarters and seized the goods destined for them. As a consequence of my involvement I was transferred from teaching in a secondary school to teaching Prep A. I resigned after some months.
While a believer in the struggle of working people in general for betterment I did have a closer affinity to sugar. This interest prompted me to read the CoI and a few things came to my attention.
The CoI mentioned two varieties of sugar. My question to the bosses in GuySuCo is whether there is a third variety, one that was introduced here with the blessings of the Indian government? And is it true that this particular variety has a sucrose content of 25% compared to 18% contained in the two species mentioned? Is it true that this variety ripens in eight months compared to the 12 months that it takes the other species? Is it true that this variety can be planted five feet apart because the clumps are huge and so save man hours in the planting? Is it true that one of the proposals was to plant legumes between the plants because of the available space and this would also enrich the soil and so reduce the need for fertilizers? Is it true that the new variety can give over fifty tonnes an acre and because of the higher sucrose content it can permit over four tonnes an acre (TSA) compared to less than 2.5 TSA at the present time? Big private cane farmers actually get 3.3 TSA. The new variety, if my information is correct, would allow us to produce a tonne of sugar using less than 11 tonnes of cane (TCTS of 11).
Other questions: Why flood fallow was stopped when the estates were geared for flood fallow every 5 years? Fallow means less fertilizers, less insecticides as the flood kills them, and less weeding as the grass is destroyed. Why cane ripeners? Bookers never used them but produced over 3.3 TSA.
Where are the managers? Their absence facilitates the dumping of insecticide and fertilizers. Some are involved in the theft and sales. Do we need the big Ogle Empire? Shut it down. Let the estates or group of estates manage themselves and we have a marketing department.
Why have we not explored the production of Jaggri (organic sugar) especially at Wales Estate? This is extremely profitable and can be produced easily by the farmers, or we can use the factory and curtail the boiling before crystallisation of the sugar. We do not have to centrifuge out the molasses as it is included in the production of Jaggri.
Why was this not mentioned in the CoI? I personally brought up these issues with the Chairman of the CoI, but I see no mention of these in the report.
Why not ethanol? Rice LOL. If we diversify, then why not high-end crops with the New GGMC getting off its seat and exporting them? We are importing enormous amounts of carrots.
There is so much more I can say but I stop and wait. Maybe I am wrong but I wait on the authorities to tell me that I am wrong, that I am mistaken. In the meantime the private farmers are using the other variety. Let the executives deny knowledge of this variety, Maybe there are good grounds for ignoring it, if I am right and it does exist.
Yours faithfully,
Rajendra Bisessar
