Phased opening of former GUYSUCO estates

THE GOVERNMENT PLANS RE-OPENING MOST OF THE RECENTLY-CLOSED
sugar estates, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha told former Enmore Estate workers.
“As long as commitments were made, we will fulfill those commitments. We cannot do
everything at once. But rest assured, we will work to deliver assistance to those displaced sugar
workers. The Enmore Estate will be reopened, but we cannot open all of the estates at the same
time. We also cannot employ everyone at once,” minister Mustapha assured former Guyana
Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) workers.
Since its return to office last year, the Irfaan Ali administration has plugged significant sums into
reopening some estates and recapitalizing and rehabilitating functioning ones in the ailing local
sweetener industry.
“As we get production going, we will be able to rehire more persons. The previous
administration closed four estates within a year. We are trying to reopen them but this has to be
done in a phased approach. Over the past year, we’ve been putting money into the closed estates
to have them reopened, and at the same time, we’ve been putting money into the operating
estates to recapitalise and rehabilitate them,” Mustapha said in his meeting this week with former
Enmore Estate employees.
Export receipts from the sweetener has declined from US$123M in 2011 to US$49M in 2017, slipping
even further to US$27.7M in 2019. As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) sugar’s contribution
fell from 14.7 percent in 1996 to 2.8 percent in 2014. The fault was GUYSUCO’s loss of preferential
prices in Europe.
Government’s perennial lifelines thrown to GUYSUCO to boost sugar’s fortunes through tax reductions
and levies during downturns, and modernisation and restructuring of the ailing industry have not been
enough so far to lift the industry out of semi-consciousness.
“GUYSUCO is beyond sugar. As a government, we recognise the importance of sugar and
GUYSUCO. Over the last year, we’ve already transferred $10B to GUYSUCO. We are now
working aggressively to reopen Rose Hall and then the others will follow. For the estates that are

currently operational, we have to do a lot of work to make them efficient,” the minister
explained.
The minister promised a package of assistance to former GUYSUCO Enmore workers through
the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA).
He also promised the government’s intervention to help those encountering problems with
National Insurance Scheme (NIS).