Guyana reopens talks with T&T on ALL projects – Greenidge

It's in Guyana's interest to stay tight with Trinidad. For economic and cultural reasons at least.

The only CARICOM nations which don't owe Maduro millions of dollars are T&T and Barbados.  In fact BOTH have their own reasons to be suspicious of him.

Playing with T&T (and Barbados) forces the rest of CARICOM to greater testicular fortitude in dealing with Venezuela (or come clean and admit that they don't care what happens to a fellow CARICOM nation).

In addition they claim that they want rice and corn. Well that might solve the rice farmers' problems right there.

It is good tha we are reexamine get the projects. there are some concerns. the sugar industry is plagued with labour problem. Not enough showing up to work because of alternatives. From where will they get the labour? What did Trinidad do with the land taken out of sugar production? I know some was used for housing. Regarding ethanol production, it is good they are doing the feasibility study now because oil price is low and will continue so for many years. Also, the same problem exists regarding labour. Over the past few months it has been easier to hire people to do work around because of the slowdown in the economy, but this might not be applicable to a longer period of time or for other parts of Guyana.

Large scale agriculture allows it to be more capital intensive.  This suggests that labor rates will be higher, as higher skill levels will be needed.

What we probably have in Guyana are people who find various ways to sustain themselves, rather than submitting to low paying jobs, with the obligation to show up to work and to be productive, for little reward. 

If Guyanese go to Barbados to cut cane, at better pay then they get in Guyana, they will work if pay rates are better.

Guyana need method like this to harvest sugar cane.

there will be no need for armies of canecutters . . . PPP nightmare

This how you plant sugar cane.

I believe something similar is already being done at Skeldon, by workers from BBP, where this method is normal to cut rice.

This will indeed be a  nightmare for the PPP.

In some ways the PPP relationship with  sugar workers is not different from the British in Guiana, supress the workers to control them for political purposes and preventing them to excel in other ways.

Hopefully, if this method is implemented, it should not be seen as a loss of jobs, but an opportunity to diversify.       

"Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ansa McAL group of companies Anthony Sabga, had confirmed that the company is conducting a feasibility study for a bio-fuel project in Guyana.
“We envisage a sugar cane plantation cultivated to produce a minimum 2,000,000 metric tonnes of high sucrose sugar cane per year and produce 40,000,000 gallons of ethanol and approximately 175,000 metric tonnes of raw sugar,” Sabga had stated."

Tola..I am wondering if Ansa McAL will be looking at modern

methods if the decided to get in to cane cultivation,that is why

i posted the video.

KOMAL CHAND: Comrade Tola, for hundreds of years the sugar industry has been labour intensive. We cannot switch to machine-intensive method now.

TOLA: Why?

KOMAL: Between me and you, comrade. we collect $$millions in union dues from 16,000 sugar workers. Thirty years ago we used to collect from 20,000+ workers and we used to transfer some money to our Party. Machines don't pay union dues.

True Django, if the GY sugar industry is to survive, they need to come up with more cost effective methods for cultivation and be able to compete with world markets for sugar.

But the PPP might use it as a  political ploy for job loss and the government dislike for Indians, thus making the racial divide greater.   

Jackass Cart thinking again by the AFC/PNC.

You just cannot close down the industry and then implement Machine Harvesting overnight.

Guysuco tried this under the PNC and it failed very badly. This was around 1987.

Implementation would have to be phased in over a number of years and the fields prepared and Guyana does not have the friendliest of soil for this type of harvesting.

You AFC/PNC chaps are bunch of jokers.

Carry on.

Bhah why you run off on a tangent,we discussing Ansa McAL

getting in to the sugar cane business in Guyana from scratch,

this got nothing to do with GUYSUCO.

I can't understand why Guyanese so negative,why modern

methods cant work is suh we backward.

You mek me laugh out loud Gil.  I remember the days of union dues in GY. 

Like Harry Lall, Comrade Chand might be GAWU president for life.

I met him once after their office fire. I gave him a 'DOWN WITH MPCA, WE WANT GAWU' protest photograph I took in 1963 at Albion and he gave me Ashton Chase book about unionism.

Come on Yuji, put your brain in gear.

Who is talking about closing down the sugar industry ?

Django, da bai yuji run away fram Guyana since 1983 and he talking bout 1987 as if he bin in de canefield. Furthermore, de man know more bout Corentyne fishery than sugar industry. Na badda wid da bai, Django. He just mouthing aff.

YujiBai, 'poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for anyone'.

Me na bada with he,a suspect he ran away early,ah waiting to

hear he went back and see duh.

I used to help Harry Lall and Maccie Hamid write GAWU press releases in 1974-75, on a voluntary basis. At that time Komal used to help manage his brothers' Texaco gas station in Vauxhall, WBD. Then the PPP brought him to Freedom House and gave him a desk and chair in the space under the stairs going up to the third floor. Shortly after he was transferred to GAWU and the rest is history.

I was told that space unda the stairs was so small, people used to bang dem heads when they stand up, or walk into it.

We had an overhead beam in our logie, from the kitchen to the living room.

My uncles after a few drinks, had a special head banging treat, sometimes they get knocked out and are given suga wata and  Limacol.

Uncle Enoc like to eat raw eggs to revive.

Hol  a   sec ....e-knock...what ? 

Sure...greater integration within Caricom is desirable and better. This is common sense.

Before Komal, Clement Rohee occupied that same desk, chair and space. Today he is PPP leader. Komal is GAWU leader.

After Komal, Mitra Devi Ali occupied that same desk, chair and space. Last time I heard, Mitra was Guyana's Ambassador to Cuba.

If I were a superstitious man, I would say that desk, chair and space had a good spirit/angel.

It must be a PPP good luck space.

Did anyone write a history about Freedom House, it obviously has significant value to Guyana politics. 

Was Mitra Devi the  FH receptionist or secretary around 2007. I made contact with a person of similar name, to arrange a video interview with JJ in Ramotar's office, because JJ office was too small and crowded.

The florescent lights at FH must be very old, they hum  a lot and not good for recordings.    

No you can sell Guysuco to the Chinese and let them do what they will to the workers, just as they did in bauxite.  After all Guysuco is a drain in the same way that Guymine was.

Clearly producing at 45c and selling at 14c isn't sustainable.

Note that private investors have different goals than do gov'ts and so any agro-industrial investment will be very capital intensive and aimed at mass production.  How that impacts small scale producers becomes interesting.

Would you prefer if they whistled? hehe