Beni Sankar has some thoughtful insights into the problems facing the sugar industry as well as possible resolution. However he still seem to believe that govt should be running guysuco instead of a return to fully being privatized. Hopefully the pedophile crew consisting of mitjuanita, coCaine, Jaliki and Redunce will not derail this thread.
Sugar industry needs restructuring
Written by BENI SANKAR Thursday, 23 May 2013 23:25 IT's interesting to note Mr Komal Chand's article:”Sugar Industry Turnaround...FAR from REALITY”....
How true. If anyone believes that the industry can turn around with the prevailing mindset, then they are living in a dream world.
In its present state, the sugar industry is dying a slow, painful death...production targets are not met, wages and salaries are not paid on time and suppliers wait very long for their money etc.
President Jagdeo took a bold decision in implementing the Skeldon Project. Unfortunately, the equipment in the factory seems to be of poor quality, but same can be rectified at a cost.
Fortunately, his gamble will pay off, if the sugar industry is productive, as the price of sugar on the world market is at a reasonable level, and lots of value can be added by packaging and utilising the recently expensive installed packaging facility.
Regardless of who sits on the Board or manages it, in its present state, GuySuCo will fail, as the problems are more deep rooted.GuySuCo is totally owned by the government. It employs many workers and earns a fair amount of foreign exchange, while utilising a significant amount also.
One can assume it's utilising more than it earns because of its inability to honour its present financial obligations.
There has been a significant movement away by the workers from the industry for a variety of reasons... the package (money) received and working conditions mostly.
The cane-cutters are leaving because they can earn more, for less effort elsewhere, and the health risk involved.
The issue facing the industry is low production which results in, out of control cost of production.
Low production is directly attributed to a lack of skills at all levels, stealing, shortage of a reliable labour force, impassable access roads, lack of R&D etc.
Undoubtedly, there are good people in the industry trying to make it work. The failure of the sugar industry will cause serious social problems. This is a good enough reason why the administration will not want this industry to die.
Unfortunately, they will not be successful if the present state of affair continues.
We have to look at the industry in its entirety...and this involves R&D, operations in the fields, operations in the mills, marketing etc.
I will address specifically operations in the fields and factories which I consider to be the two most critical areas.Field Operation
Presently, GuySuCo is engaged in the laying out of fields for mechanical harvesting which is a good idea, but the benefits are affected by the weather. The soil, when soaked, does not allow for mechanical operation, resulting in damage to the soil and ratoons.
Presently, workers are used to harvest the cane and load it into punts, and this is transported to the factories pulled by a tractor.
The practice of cut and drop is also utilised, where cane is harvested by hand and a mechanical loader puts it into punts.
The operation of cutting and loading by hand is very strenuous and not many people are attracted to same. Low wages and easy likelihood of injury do not help the situation.Factory Operation
The equipment in the factories, as a result of poor maintenance programmes, has deteriorated significantly.
This is visible in the low sugar to cane ratio achieved presently and the number of days the factories are down.SOLUTIONS
Factory
GuySuCo has to retain control of all the sugar factories, and serious effort made to ensure that maximum efficiency is always achieved, which allows for maximum return from cane harvested and zero or minimum down days.Field
The areas under consideration should be leased to private individuals, which will see productive areas split into smaller units.
A lesson to be learnt from Wales, where relatively small farmers out-perform GuySuCo, which has more equipment and infrastructure.
This is being practised at Skeldon where virgin lands are developed by private farmers, and at Uitvlugt, where GuySuCo’s lands are being distributed to private farmers.
This will enable GuySuCo to get completely out of farming, resulting in the company concentrating on the mills.
The process of laying out fields for mechanical harvesting should continue, until all areas are laid out and cane harvesters are utilised in ideal conditions.
Workers will be used to cut and drop, and the loaders presently utilised will load into the punts in wet conditions.
Re-introduce mules to pull the punts from the fields. This will ensure that the access roads are not damaged, especially, in the rainy season and it will be cheaper.
This can be a stop gap while other methods are looked at, such as:
(1) Building all weather roads
(2) Utilising a system of water propulsion, both of which will be unachievable in the short term by a cash-strapped GuySuCo.
With increased production and efficiency, GuySuCo will be able to offer better packages to its employees, resulting in less or zero migration from the industry.The above stop gap solution might seem very simplistic and backward, but could solve the problem in the short term.
Those of us who were around when the industry was privately owned will remember that Bookers and Sandbach Parker ran the industry very efficiently, with mules pulling the punts, and, they always achieved the quota set in Europe, at highly subsidised prices, which is way above the quota set presently ,and is never achieved.
It's interesting to note that the industry was very labour intensive then, with very little migration because of the packages offered at all levels, and there were very qualified and competent people in the system.
In closing ...regardless how much money is put into GuySuCo in its present state, it will be like throwing water on duck’s back.
