This gov’t is not on the right track in agriculture, President Cheddi would have been ashamed

Dear Editor,
The current crisis in the sugar industry really mirrors the low level of competence, responsibility and care towards the welfare of all sugar workers by this government. Now we, the taxpayers and concerned citizens of Guyana, are told of Guysuco’s 5 billion dollar debt and for this year, a 2.5 billion dollar “bail-out” by this government (which virtually owns Guysuco). Over the last years, Guysuco has been losing a lot of money and this government has been using our money (5 billion a year) to ease their sugar corporation’s losses and paying its debt on the Skeldon estate. Now, the workers are on strike repeatedly and the union, GAWU, which is subservient to the political interests of this government, is constantly straddling the fence and compromising the will of the poor and exploited workers. The sugar workers of Guyana have given more to this country than most of us, and their betrayal by this PPP government is shocking and should not be tolerated by this society. President Cheddi would have been ashamed of their plight at the hands of those he left behind to run this country.

But the state of our agricultural dilemma really mirrors that in the sugar industry. The slogan, “grow more food”, is a sham when, to take an example, the situation at Black Bush Polder is so disastrous because of bad drainage, impassable roads and bad water and electricity that the farmers are all leaving. Grow more food! – tell that to the birds which will be the only residents shortly! Black Bush was originally intended by President Cheddi to literally feed our people and look at what is happening to the farmers there; it’s a crying shame because it’s so beautiful, tranquil and rich in good soil, with outstanding and dedicated farmers. Black Bush is not unique as a disaster to our agricultural potential; so it is that in the Canals Polder the same story can be told- a sad story of failed policies by this government. Agriculture was a treasure for President Cheddi and the betrayal of his beliefs by the present PPP administration is nothing but shameful. Go into the supermarkets and the grocery stores and see all the imported foodstuff; food we should be producing here at good prices for our people.

Rice production and the plight of our rice farmers is a national disgrace. The Rice Producers Association (RPA) is another form of governmental interference in our economy. The RPA should be disbanded if the government refuses to get out because those who do the hard work should benefit the most and government in the case of rice is really doing nothing much except keeping back the production and expansion of rice cultivation. Let the farmers have a free hand with the proper government subsidies (which they deserve) and more land to cultivate and we will be ok with our rice production for local and export markets. The rice farmers are under severe strains in making a proper living and they constitute all that is good and creative in our society; this government should bend over backwards to make them more productive and better off for all their hard work. President Cheddi always helped rice farmers throughout his life and I can’t understand how these PPP politicians could stand by and just give us talk and more talk while allowing the rice industry to fall apart.

We need a change of government where we can bring real change for all the working people of Guyana, especially in the agriculture sector. For sugar, we need to close down all the Demerara estates while giving each worker his pension and a settlement of $1-2 million for closure and 15 to 20 acres of land to “grow more food”; the remainder of land should go to the general population for housing at very low cost. Sugar cultivation should be concentrated in Berbice since the big factory is there. We need agro-industry in our country to create jobs and spin-off industries; let’s bring companies like Dole which can invest in pineapples and bring the Essequibo back alive in agricultural growth. In forestry, we should be bringing companies from the USA, Canada or Europe which cut and re-plants to promote conservation while we should make sure that a certain quota of wood products stay in-country to provide inexpensive building material; nothing is wrong with a wooden house- it breathes easier. All the low-carbon talk is just that -talk and more talk which will lead us nowhere; we need to harvest our forests while exploiting our other resources, for the money to educate a generation of leaders  in science, technology, government and commerce and  to take us out of the poverty we find ourselves in. Food production, through the concept of Co-ops which President Burnham pushed for and which was a visionary concept, can make us the supplier of many food products to Caricom countries, which will make us serious exporters while lowering the cost of living in those countries.

This government is not on the right track, especially when it comes to agriculture, which should be the backbone of our economy. We can produce a lot of food for export and to satisfy our local consumption and that is the route in achieving the vision of our political forefathers who all believed in self-sacrifice, self-reliance and self-help in order to really see our people properly housed, clothed and well-fed. We need new visions for success in our agricultural sector .We need a new government.

Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey)
Jagan(Jr.)