Dear Editor,
I worked as a cane-cutter (1967-70), at Diamond estate when I was 17-20 years old. I saved $15 (around 50% of my weekly earnings), in a ‘box-hand’ every week. When I was 20 years old, I stopped working, and embarked on self-taught study for the GCE examinations. After 15 months, I passed the GCE exams, taught primary school for two years, then went on to study economics at the University of Guyana (UG), where I was offered a faculty position on graduation. Later I pursued Master’s and PhD degrees under a US Fulbright and full university scholarships, respectively. I also worked with the United Nations as a Food Economist for 12 years. But my motivation for saving from my meagre wages, terminating a career as a cane-cutter, and pursuing education, came from three early observations I made as a cane-cutter: (a) Cheerful, robust and buffed-looking cane-cutters at the beginning of the crop, morphed into gaunt, bony faced, ‘maga, maga’ men after 8-10 weeks in the cane-fields; (b) cutting and loading an average of three tons of cane per day, at the then rate of $1.55 per ton, was just enough to reproduce the cane-cutter around a hand-to-mouth poverty equilibrium; and (c) if I wanted a better quality of life for myself, children and grandchildren, I needed to find another job, other than cutting cane.
There is no doubt in my mind that the sugar workers and their families at Wales estate are now experiencing tremendous levels of stress, anxiety and worrying. But they should seriously ponder on the three observations I made about being a cane-cutter, and how I, and many others, managed to break out of that system. I would also caution them against believing the current ideas of the main opposition party on how to get the sugar industry back on track. The previous government had 20 years to build resilience and sustainability into the sugar and rice industries, their main political support base, yet both industries have been in crisis for many years.
I firmly believe that the labour unions, the government and the sugar workers should sit at the same table to fashion a mutually acceptable set of economic activities for the sugar workers, and for the economy. And that alternative can be far superior to that of a cane-cutter’s career. Moreover, it can be done in a way that triggers a significant driver of economic growth, namely, strategic investments. In brief, here are my suggestions for consideration:
- Government should conduct a survey among the sugar workers to find out what economic activities they would like government to help them with, as was done in St Kitts in 2005, when the government closed its sugar industry, and displaced 1406 sugar workers.
- For those sugar workers at Wales estate who would like to cultivate the land, and other Guyanese who are similarly interested, a strategic plan should be developed to establish a self-sustained, export-oriented agro-food complex, complete with strong business models, and a package of support services in the short-to-medium term, to produce, process/develop new food-products, and market fruits, juices, vegetables, roots-tubers, fish, shrimp, poultry, small ruminants and pigs, to meet local market demand, and to export. Guyana imports over US$275 million of food, and the Caricom regional food bill is in excess of US$4.5 billion, annually; if present trends continue, the region will be importing US$8-10 billion of food annually by 2020. This is therefore an excellent opportunity to link food, nutrition, health, and livelihoods.
- The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has been doing some important work in the region on large-scale production and processing of cassava for food; substitute for wheat-flour for bread; stock-feeds; beer production; and biofuels. The FAO visions the cassava industry similar in scale and economic importance that sugar and bananas once occupied in the Caribbean. This is a good opportunity for reaping economies of scale with large investments in an agro-food complex.
These proposals are not far-fetched. Let me be very blunt. If the 3000 acres of sugar lands at Wales estate were leased or sold to sharp entrepreneurs such as Mr Robert Badal, Mr Beni Sankar, or other Guyanese, Trinidadian, or Chinese investors, in a very short period they will transform this strategic resource into an economically viable venture along the lines I have proposed. But this will be antithetical to inclusive, pro-poor economic growth, and against the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals, to which Guyana is a signatory. We should first offer the opportunity to the sugar workers and to other ordinary Guyanese. This is what is meant by a truly transformative development project, not building a five-star hotel for high-value visitors, when the country’s poverty rate is in excess of 25%, and even higher among youths!
Yours faithfully,
Ballayram
