-following deep flooding

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) was forced to modify its annual production target of 97,420 tonnes of sugar after floods from earlier this year battered its cultivation and it managed only 57,995 tonnes.

Stabroek News was told that the three estates had to reduce their production targets due to the decline in yields and that weather conditions have contributed tremendously to the drop in sugar production for the current and last crop.

The disastrous output, continuing subventions to the industry from the state and absence of viable options for the still-shuttered Skeldon factory and estate will pile pressure on the government for radical decisions to be made next year.

GuySuCo’s projected sugar production for 2021 was set at 97,420 tonnes, as against its 2020 production of 87,875 tonnes, and projected targets for the first crop for the individual three grinding estates were, Albion 21,573 tonnes, Blairmont 12,404 tonnes, and Uitvlugt at 8,631 tonnes. Following the floods that inundated the estates in early 2021, the broader production target of 97,420 was revised downwards to 79,000 tonnes. However, according to GuySuCo, only 57,995 tonnes of sugar was produced across all combined estates in 2021.

The actual production for the first crop at the three estates, according to GuySuCo, was Albion 14,792, Blairmont 8,668 and Uitvlugt 6,190. GuySuCo also stated that the floods that overwhelmed the estates was largely responsible for the sugar production decline in 2021 when measured against production per estate in 2020. In 2020, Albion estate produced, for the first crop, 16,802 tonnes but produced 14,792 tonnes, in 2021.  Blairmont in 2020 produced 11,867 tonnes for its first crop but only 8,668 tonnes for 2021. Uitvlugt’s 2020 first crop production number was 8,344 tonnes, but it managed only 6,190 tonnes in 2021. GuySuCo’s second crop data per estate were: Albion 24,908 tonnes in 2020 and 9,981 in 2021, Blairmont 15,548 tonnes (2020) and 11,113 tonnes (2021), and Uitvlugt 10,406 tonnes in 2020 against 7,207 in 2021.

Targeted production across all estates was also revised downwards, the first crop was reduced to 27,651 from 42,608 tonnes, and the second crop from 54,812 to 28,302. When compared to 2020 production across the estates, first crop production in 2021 was 27,651 compared to 37,013 tonnes in 2020, and the second crop production was 28,301 tonnes compared to 50,862 tonnes in 2020. The mid-year flooding resulted in more than 30% of the sugar cane being destroyed. The floods were also responsible for GuySuCo not being able to produce the highest quality of sugar. “What we currently have now is light sugar cane. It is not the best of quality and that is impacting production. The canes have no weight,” a source familiar with the crisis at the three grinding estates explained. Sugar cane that was waterlogged for more than 65 days has resulted in poor yields.

Due to the sugar canes being waterlogged for so long, the plants were unable to acquire sufficient nutrients to adequately ripen, therefore producing the required sucrose.

In a letter to this newspaper earlier this year, the three estates’ managers reflected on the adverse impacts of the floods. They predicted that at Albion Estate, production was expected to fall short of the target by at least 10,000 tonnes. The estate’s target for the first crop was set at 32,000. The return for the second crop was also expected to be dismal, deepening the financial woes besetting the industry and raising further concerns about its future.

“The extended rainfall was so brutal to the sugar industry that on some estates, the standing canes found themselves under water for more than 65 days even though some 4.5 million tonnes of water was removed from the land daily.  This situation has resulted in a mortality rate of 31% of the standing canes at the largest estate – Albion /Port Mourant that produces some 50% of the annual production in 2020,” Threbhowan Shiwprasad, Hutton Griffith and Yudhister Mana, the Estate Managers of the grinding sugar estates explained.