Sudama: End for sugar in 2004

TWENTY-FOUR hours before the 2004 sugar crop’s commencement, former Food Production Minister Trevor Sudama claimed that Government plans to further marginalise the local sugar industry, and this was revealed by none other than Prime Minister Patrick Manning. The crop begins tomorrow. Addressing a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall on Friday, the Prime Minister said: “Guyana is one of the few countries in the world that is expanding its production of cane sugar. “Cuba is cutting back, Trinidad and Tobago is cutting back, Barbados is cutting back, but in Guyana because of the cost of production Guyana is able to produce sugar at a price that is competitive with the international price of sugar as it exists on the world market. “As a consequence of that, you are getting an expansion in Guyana and eventually what is likely to happen is all the countries of the region will buy their sugar requirements from Guyana. “TT moving in that direction therefore is by no means unusual. Guyana is a Caricom country and the Caricom treaty mandates that we move in that way.”

Sudama told Newsday yesterday that Manning’s statement signalled Government’s intention to further reduce the local sugar industry and make the most of a recent agreement to import sugar from Guyana. The former minister claimed that Government has no real interest in maintaining the local sugar industry and is simply looking at reducing the industry’s annual burden on the Treasury. He further alleged that it was quite possible that most of Caroni (1975) Limited’s 77,000 land acreage could be used for housing and light manufacturing should interest in agriculture wane. Former Agriculture (and current Health) Minister John Rahael said Government’s policy was to give first preference of Caroni’s lands to former Caroni workers and this would be handled by the Business Estate Management Company. Sudama also believed it was unlikely that the Sugar Manufacturing Company Limited (SMCL) would achieve its production target of 75,000 tonnes of sugar by solely relying on farmers’ canes.

He claimed systems were not yet in place for farmers to handle the cane production for this year’s crop, and highlighted transportation of canes from the fields to the Usine Ste Madeleine sugar factory as but one major hurdle which farmers will have to overcome. Problems have erupted in the sugar belt between the Trinidad Islandwide Canefarmers Association (TICFA) and the rival Cane Farmers Association of TT over control of cane-weighing scales with TICFA, refuting reports that it was abandoning the crop. At the same post-Cabinet news conference on Friday, Prime Minister Manning gave the assurance that the sugar crop was not in jeopardy but conceded that “there are some issues that need to be worked out.” Manning also said the recent TT-Guyana sugar importation agreement would not adversely affect the local sugar industry.