Dear Editor,
Many of us may not share these sentiments, depending on which side of the divide we happen to fall, but it is evident that the importance of the sugar industry in Guyana has been receding into the background. Sugar is no longer a major contributor to our GDP, and the labour skills of which it was a substantive employer is fast disappearing. Perhaps less recognized, has been the industry’s unsung operational maintenance and management of the coastal water control structures bordering estates and associated rural communities. Central government has already stepped in to preserve the functioning presence of these structures, established and maintained over the decades in support of both estates’ effective field drainage and workers’ housing protection from floods, funded in the past by fiscal provisions in estates’ capital and recurring expenditure budgets. Indeed, the unique sugar plantation system designed by the Dutch initially, forged by the sweat and blood of slave and indentured labour that dug the canals, built the dams and prepared the land that first established the cane fields on which the industry was founded.
Subsequent to the belated restructuring of the industry’s expenditures to remove the burden of financing drainage and road maintenance of the estates and surrounding villages, responsibility for these works now rests with the Local and Central State authorities. With the inevitable closure of some estates, it is imperative that the toils of our forefathers, grossly underpaid for manually digging canals and constructing riding dams, should not be lost, were the land to be left abandoned to bush and swamp. To avert such a wasteful eventuality, continual access to the internal reaches of the estates’ lands must at all costs, be facilitated. My first proposal for the authorities’ consideration is the creation of a land communication infrastructure comprising permanent low-maintenance roads and bridges built on the existing main dams, which currently are far from weather robust. The state construction of all-weather roads was mentioned in a previous letter of 10th January 2020, to the press titled “Sustainability of agriculture in Guyana”.
For these proposed low-maintenance roads to have the capacity to absorb sustained traffic from punt-hauling tractors, their interface with the contiguous canals must be protected from erosion by a sturdy bulwark, provision of which must be enshrined in the road building contract and faithfully executed. It is known that state of the art upgrading of the country’s general infrastructure is on the Government’s agenda for early attention. Prior to the advent of funding resources from oil extraction, this undertaking would have been a difficult funding proposition. There will now exist the option of accessing oil-levered international funding or the deployment of internal funds garnered from oil proceeds. Establishment of a network of weather-resilient main roads in estates’ field system will increase accessibility of consolidated blocks of land for development by investors. Income generation will be premised on the utilization of this estate-developed land resource for a range of enterprises, including renewable energy, industrial and agricultural. An important consideration for estates now in operation is the opportunity for cane farmers in particular to rehabilitate still existing, but temporarily abandoned cane fields. This development will provide cane farmers, as well as existing sugar estates, with easier and expeditious access of their cane to factories with the aid of all-weather roads. The following land use proposals, by no means exhaustive, are put forward for consideration:
The retention of prime coastal land for agricultural and horticultural pursuits, inclusive of sugarcane is still an attractive and viable proposition, provided remunerative regional markets for the individual crops are contractually engaged on a long term basis. Sugarcane on the currently three operating estates must be retained for several reasons, which could be elaborated on in a subsequent discussion. Suffice it to say, for the moment that in effecting better overall economies, firstly, field rehabilitation would be facilitated as part of the general estates’ road infrastructural upgrading support earlier proposed. Secondly, cost efficiencies of factories would be improved by adopting a hybrid power system inclusive of cogeneration. This integrated power provision entails the utility of supplemental alternative energy sources of solar and wind in tandem with cogeneration, as will be later adverted. Thirdly, I would advocate that crop length harvests be considerably reduced to take strategic advantage of seasonal weather and available labour, after further appropriate mechanization of field operations, as far as is feasible and practical.
Other crops already proven to be successful that should be extended on former cane lands include rice, which is eminently suited for our coastal soils, as well as coconuts and citrus to some extent, all of which can command regional markets in the fresh, primary or processed form. Even after the appropriate deployment of former cane lands to other crops cultivation there will be appreciable vacant land areas remaining, not all of which will be cultivable. These can be converted, where practicable, to extensive solar and wind farms for which is available considerable international incentives, and which can in turn be incentivized locally, as already in place with solar panels, for entrepreneurs’ investment interest. Establishment of these renewable energy sources on former cane lands can be facilitated by rehabilitation and maintenance of the network of internal roads accessible from resurfaced main dams of which earlier reference is made.
It is envisaged that the available estate land will be zoned for the diverse enterprises and activities including the above mentioned, as well as industrial manufacturing and processing plants. Establishment of these industries on former cane lands will benefit, in the long term, from their proximity to supplemental clean energy sources and primary crop material supplies. Finally, it is advised that investors/developers/entrepreneurs enter into a covenant with the State to ensure that land leased for specific purposes be utilized in accordance with the acquisition terms, which could include State provision of appropriate incentives as well as penalties for contract violations. The State in turn may provide infrastructural and utility services support as part of the lease or purchase agreement.
Sincerely,
Fritz McLean
GuySuCo Executive Director, (Former)
Agriculture Research and Diversified Crops
Chairman, Guyana School of Agriculture;
Diversification Specialist, SPU/NICIL
Board Chairman, Bureau of Statistics
