Deflecting a question about whether his government will stick to a key manifesto promise to reopen the Skeldon and East Demerara estates, President Irfaan Ali yesterday said that bilateral meetings with Guatemala and India will assist in determining the sustainability of sugar production at these two sites.
Questions have grown about the fate of these two shuttered estates following a deal announced last month which will see the Enmore Sugar Packaging plant repurposed and 55 acres of East Demerara Estate (EDE) land leased or sold. The terms of the deal have not been released and key stakeholders including the sugar union, GAWU were caught off guard.
“We are not going to reinvent the wheel. Sugar is viable. We said this a long time ago. From a financial and economic social perspective, sugar is viable. We have to decide: Do we want the jobs and see if we save the industry the same time? We’re not selling out any assets. We’re catalyzing the asset. There is a difference,” the President yesterday said at a press conference he held at State House, when asked by Stabroek News if government would be reopening the East Demerara and Skeldon estates.
The two estates are among four that were closed during the David Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition government. While in opposition and on the March 2020 Regional and General Elections campaign trail, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic vowed to reopen three of the shuttered estates in regions Three, Four, and Six: EDE, Rosehall and Skeldon. The Wales estate had been completely dismantled and there was no prospect of restoring it.
But questions grew on the plans for the EDE following the recent announcement of a deal between local machining company, Guysons and its United States partner, equipment manufacturer K&B Industries, and government for the packaging plant and land.
When the question was put to Ali yesterday, he addressed plans for sugar and agriculture here and said that following a meeting with President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei Falla at a Central American and Caribbean summit, a delegation from that country will visit in the next two weeks.
“I want to assure you that the plans there is about expanding and sustaining jobs and more importantly, creating viability for the industry. And we’re not talking only about Enmore here, we’re talking about the development corridor. We saw … what three banks did at Diamond (East Bank Demerara on former sugar estate land). The landscape has changed. That’s urban and regional planning. We are developing a corridor of development. We are giving special incentives for call centres. We are … going to Region 10 … to Region Five because this is how you avoid the Dutch disease. You have to use the resources to create economic opportunities and integrate the people into those opportunities.
So I ‘m saying to you, I’ve sent you the plans and when the technical team comes in from Guatemala, we are going to further discuss. We’ve asked for help from India too because we are also cognizant of the future and there is a great opportunity that lies ahead,” he added, pointing out that hemp is also a viable crop.
According to Ali, George-town and Guatemala City will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding on their planned cooperation which includes revitalizing the sugar industry and overall strategizing for increased food production and food security.
Ali said, “We’re not only talking about technical opportunities but about twinning opportunities.”
It is the hope that Guatemala, whose sugar industry is highly mechanized and rakes in over US$1B in exports annually for that country, can help Guyana with its agricultural sector.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, in marketing year 2021/2022, Guatemala is forecast to produce 2.70 million metric tons of sugar from sugarcane from a harvested area of 251,000 hectares, as sugar yields increase to 10.76 metric tons per hectare through the expansion from 52 to 60 percent of the area planted and to be harvested with improved sugar cane varieties.
Part of the strategy
“The (Enmore) packaging plant is part of the strategy; moving it to Berbice (is). It is moving to Albion which will create new jobs in that area…. So it’s consolidating investment as part of the diversification integration of the industry itself. It is winning on both sides of the coin, because it’s sustaining and creating new jobs on the East Coast corridor that is critical in achieving the 50,000 jobs target and at the same time creating new jobs in Regions Five and Six by taking the packaging line there,” he said.
“And that is where we are consolidating our assets in terms of the sugar industry. So you have efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. And that is why Guatemala will also be coming in to help us,” he added.
The President said that his government still believes that sugar can, with the right management and advice be a viable commodity here.
“Now in terms of sugar production and closing of sugar estates, let me recall that when the APNU+AFC closed the estates and shut the industry down, I made it very clear, and the PPP made it very clear, that we believe that if you examine the social and economic and financial impact in its totality of sugar, that sugar plays a very, very key and vital role in our economy. So that has always been our position. It is not a new position … we will be revitalizing the sugar industry, but we are also cognizant of the fact that the new economy will be driven also by manufacturing, industrial development, aquaculture…etcetera. We are also expanding massively in that [aquaculture] because we’re increasing our production by 100% in terms of brackish water shrimp and we’re going to take that up by 300% by the next year and that is a massive market out there and similarly for sugar,” he said.
“So the Enmore packaging plant is not closed. Let me make it very clear. The facility at Enmore will be used and it’s not sold. It will be used to sustain all those jobs and expand the opportunity for the East Coast corridor, because the East Coast corridor is linked to the industrialization and manufacturing that is taking place but no jobs will be lost. So I don’t know what this is fanciful argument some people are coming up with in their heads and the packaging plant is closed. It is not closed,” he added.
Ali said that his administration is looking at development of all sectors from a realistic and pragmatic perspective and will use this in planning.
“This is facts. I’m not living a fanciful dream. I’m here elected as president. This government is elected to deliver on what we promised. And believe you me, no stumbling block will deny the people of this country the delivery of what we promised them, committed to them, none whatsoever,” he stressed.
