Skeldon factory on course to surpass 2012 target
– some 2500 tonnes of sugar produced last week
By Kristen Macklingam
In spite of many challenges that the sugar industry, and specifically the Skeldon Sugar Factory has faced in recent times, the flagship factory of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has created a new historical feat with a production of 2502 tonnes of sugar last week.
Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, managers of the Skeldon Sugar Factory, and media operatives inspecting the factory’s operations
Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who facilitated a tour for media operatives to have an opportunity to visit the factory on Saturday, noted that this latest success story could not have been possible without the farmers as they play a critical role in the sugar industry.
“Between July 1 last year to the end of June this year, the local farmers produced in excess of 160,000 tonnes of cane. In the period from July 1 to June of next year, we are hoping that private farmers produce in excess of 170,000 tonnes of cane for this factory. This factory has been described as many things, from the government’s perspective and GuySuCo’s perspective, this factory was going to be the one that led GuySuCo’s aspiration to reach a production level and to exceed a production level of 400,000 tonnes per year,” posited Dr Ramsammy.
He stated that when this vision was articulated, there were many who said it was “impossible” and publicised that the Skeldon Factory would not function for the purpose it was intended.
However, with the present production levels emerging from this factory, GuySuCo and the government continue to believe that the vision will be a reality, said Dr Ramsammy. “Skeldon was designed as the flagship of this vision and today, since its commissioning in August 2009, it is now demonstrating to the Guyanese public its potential. It is true that this factory had a major design work done by our international friends and partners and it is also true that the design has had to endure some innovations. These innovations have been ongoing and continue today.”
The agriculture minister explained that it was these innovations that were added to the design and to the factory that has led Skeldon to this point, and this of course could not have been achieved without favourable weather as of late.
A remarkable achievement
He emphasised that the 2502 tonnes of sugar produced last week is a remarkable achievement since this is more than two times what the old Skeldon Factory was capable of producing on a weekly basis.
This newspaper was told that at the end of Friday, Skeldon had exceeded 13,000 tonnes of sugar produced for this crop and has approached 20,000 tonnes for the year, thus far.
“Our target is 34,000 tonnes for the year and our target for this crop is approximately 27,000 tonnes. It means that for this crop, and this year also, we need 14,000 tonnes more. Once this is met, it means that this crop would not only have surpassed its target, but also surpassed the annual target for the factory,” Dr Ramsammy said.
It was further noted that with nine to 11 weeks remaining until the end of this crop, if good weather holds and the factory is able to produce at least 2000 tonnes of sugar per week, the target will be easily surpassed.
According to the agriculture minister, it is hoped that there will be an annual production of 50,000 tonnes of sugar in the nearer future, and by 2016, with the turnaround plan, Skeldon will produce 100,000 tonnes of sugar each year. Dr Ramsammy also explained that as it relates to design modification, a contract was signed with Bosch Engineering, and the company has begun works.
“They have done nothing to this factory but they are doing some design work, desk work and some work off site. The factory is not a factory that benefitted from Bosch Engineering modifications. It is almost the same factory that was commissioned, but it was some innovations that were added to the factory that have led to some significant impact to production.”
One of these innovations included the “cleanliness of canes”, which basically dealt with the improvement of the cane washing process. Guyana Times was told that these innovations were prepared and completed by local professionals, who identified and solved the problems. This was done as part of their “regular” jobs.
Meanwhile, Dr Ramsammy praised the managers of the factory and their workers for making the factory productive. “I believe that the local managers are capable of running the Skeldon factory and GuySuCo on whole. What they have done at Skeldon is an indication that I was right to place confidence in local managers here. These innovations brought to this flagship are testimony to the fact that local people can run Skeldon and the sugar industry,” the minister added.