Fate of sugar industry expected to be known soon
Wednesday, October 21 2015, Source
WORD on the fate of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the future of Guyana’s sugar industry is expected soon, given that Cabinet was presented with the report from the GuySuCo Commission of Inquiry (COI) yesterday. GuySuCo CoI Chairman Vibert Parvatan handed over the report to Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. George Jervis, and he contend that the recommendations made will ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability.
The Commission was expected to develop a 15-year plan which will be aimed at bringing the sugar industry back to profitability and to ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability.
“We (Commission) are pleased to have completed the study which took into account critical issues and major constraints affecting the industry….the COI team remains thankful to the many organizations and people who assisted the work of the Commission,” Mr. Parvatan said.
According to him, the Commission has so far engaged stakeholders at all the various levels of the sugar industry, thus ensuring that a comprehensive examination of the sector was done. Consultations were also held with the Private Sector Commission (PSC), the Consultative Association of Guyanese Industries (CAGI), Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Guyana Labour Union (GLU) and others.
The COI 11-member team in the past three months guided by Terms of Reference deliberated on the future of the Sugar industry, through the development of a 15-year plan which is expected to bring the industry back to profitability.
Among the works carried out by the Commission over the past three months was an investigation of the current state of cane cultivation, factory operations, production and marketing of sugar, molasses and other by-products.
Emphasis was also placed on human resource capabilities, research and development, diversification of the industry, community obligations, weather events, marketing, finance, procurement, factory performance and management.
The Members of the Commission of Inquiry were: Mr. Vibert Parvatan (Chairman), Prof. Clive Thomas (Financial and Economic Analysis), Dr. Harold Davis and Mr. John Piggot (Agronomists), Mr. John Dow and Mr. Joseph Alfred (Factory Operations), Mr. George James (Sugar Processing), Mr. Nowrang Persaud (Industrial Relations), Mr. Claude Housty (Marketing), Mr. Seepaul Narine, GAWU Representative and Mr. Omadatt Chandan who served as the Commission’s Secretary.
