July 18, 2016 Source

The construction of an all-weather road in the Wales backlands that would enable private  farmers to transport cane to the Uitvlugt estate following the planned closure of cultivation at Wales, would be out for tender in the next two weeks.

Finance Director of GuySuCo, Paul Bhim, told Stabroek News in an interview that the project, which would be funded by GuySuCo would cost a “substantial sum.”

He said a bid should be approved in a few months when the work would commence and should be completed before the start of the first crop next year. Some of the farmers who depend solely on cane cultivation were concerned that they would have to transport the cane via the West Demerara highway and said they were “barely making a profit” at Wales and would “run at a loss.”

They feared that the heavily-indebted GuySuCo would not have gone ahead with the project because it would cost millions of dollars. They had told this newspaper that if they “make three trips per day to Wales, West Bank Demerara,” they “would only be able to make one trip to Uitvlugt” on the West Coast of Demerara.

Bhim told SN that 60% of the farmers hail from Canal No 1 Polder and that their fields are actually closer to the Uitvlugt estate than to the Wales factory. He said the farmers prefer to move their cane there because it is easier to access. He added that GuySuCo would have to take advantage of the dry period for the construction of the road. He could not state the exact location of the road but knows that it would be built on the existing dirt tracks, close to the Boerasirie Conservancy.

Another major project that would take place, Bhim said, is the relocation of the cane gantry from the Wales factory to the Uitvlugt estate, which does not have one. As such, canes would no longer have to be taken out of trailers and placed at the receiving station at Uitvlugt. The move would take place after Wales finishes the second crop this year and it is expected to be installed at Uitvlugt by the beginning of the first crop next year.

Merging of LBI and Enmore estates

Bhim said that the whole consolidation of the East Demerara Estate is “well advanced” and GuySuCo is “hoping to have it all in place by the commencement of the second crop which should be starting sometime in early August.”

He told this newspaper that the negotiations and the consultations with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) went very well and “we’re at the point of agreeing on most of the issues that were raised and we’ve addressed them in a very cordial manner.”

The closure of the LBI operations would result in over 800 workers who are represented by the unions being deployed to Enmore Estate and they had expressed concerns about the fate of the LBI workers.

GuySuCo had informed the unions at a meeting that it has decided to have the operations of the Field Workshop, Mill Dock, Field Lab, Stores, and Administrative Offices that are based at LBI Estate merged with similar operations at Enmore Estate during this year.

Bhim said the plan is that there would still be some cane land at LBI but the whole operation of East Demerara will be run from Enmore.

“There is going to be one factory, [with] cultivation at LBI and Enmore but basically one cultivation as well, all the duplicated services that we had will be eradicated and the operations we had will be run at Enmore,” he told this newspaper.

According to him, “This will be more economical than running the two fuel up shops, two milled up operations at Enmore and the administrative offices for East Demerara is located at LBI when it should really be at Enmore as well.”

He said too that, “we have two stores for doing the inventory, so by doing the consolidation it is going to save us some amount of money and it will probably result in a more efficient operation.”

Bhim pointed out that GuySuCo’s head office would be relocated from the Ogle compound into LBI by the end of the year and that “the compound will be sold at some stage in the future.”

He said too: “The administrative people that are here will all be going to LBI so then again we will be consolidating because some of our head office functions are already at LBI, like the agri. operations, the factory operations people, they’re already there.”

He also told this newspaper that, “We’re also moving our information services division, which is in Camp Street to LBI as well. The entire head office operations will be located and centralized at LBI.”

While many of the LBI estate employees will be going over to Enmore, some, including “compound people and security, will be retained at LBI…”

Some workers who have indicated that they do not want to move over to Enmore would receive severance while a few workers would be made redundant and would be paid their redundancy fees.

Wales

The severance pay  for Wales workers who accepted a package has been stalemated due to the injunction that was secured by the sugar unions against GuySuCo. Bhim said that has stopped them from going ahead with the payment of the severance.

The unions secured an interim injunction restraining GuySuCo from proceeding with plans to sever the employment of workers on the Wales Estate unless it consulted with the unions in accordance with section 12 of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act.

Despite wanting the estate to remain in operation, some workers had decided to accept severance which was due on May 4, because they were already out of jobs. They were looking forward to using the money to secure their future by investing or saving it.

When Stabroek News contacted some of them last month, they lamented that they had been home for two months already and some said they have no other means of earning an income.

“It’s hard not having a job and not knowing where the money would come from to run the home…,” they said.

The workers said they would be “badly affected” because the estate was their “backbone,” noting that the entire West Bank depends on the estate for survival.

Bhim insisted that the unions have been consulted in every regard, noting that “in this day and age” they cannot give severance without consulting the union.

He said GuySuCo cannot go against the court edict and would not pay the severance unless the matter is sorted out at the courts.

Diversification

According to Bhim, 2,000 to 3,000 hectares of land is available at Wales and GuySuCo is looking to diversify there  so as to create employment for the workers who are not willing to move to Uitvlugt.

He said that they still have canes at Wales, which “would be taken off from the second crop. A lot of the field workers, factory and admin workers would still be required and the workshop would still be there.”

He noted that the closure of the cultivation  “comes with a plan to transfer quite a number of employees to the Uitvlugt location, which has had a shortage of labour for a number of years.”

Fifteen workers have accepted jobs at the Uitvlugt estate but many others opted for severance instead of joining them because of the long distance and the hassle to get there.

GuySuCo is in the process of conducting a feasibility study for aquaculture, which would hopefully be completed by the beginning of October.  The study is being done by a company out of Miami which is said to be  well experienced in agriculture projects. The company is also working with the Ministry of Agriculture while the Colombian government has also offered to help.

“There are various agencies that would be willing to step in and provide advice and the expertise. We are trying to make it as broad-based as possible because we haven’t got the expertise but the expertise is out…”

Securing markets, he said, is included in the feasibility study; “it has to come up with a marketing plan… and also where the funding is going to come from in terms of the capital investment that may be required as well. A comprehensive exercise would be done. There is a special team on the board who is looking at that.”

He pointed out that GuySuCo would not be able to fund the diversification projects because the entity is “cash strapped.” The study would look at whether the funding can come from grants or soft loans or from the Public Private Partnership.

Feasibility studies, which may be ready by next year, are also being done for cattle and milk and dairy production while GuySuCo would also be looking at rice and several other crops. In that way, they are hoping to “sustain the employment we had with sugar” but noted that “a lot of training would be required because there would be a few new skills and they are quite prepared to do that.”

They are also looking to retain the factory at Wales because it could be used if the company decides to set up a processing plant. “We have to transition Wales from being sugar cane cultivation into something else.”

He said: “That is the beauty about it; the land is there, it’s developed, the drainage facility is there, we have a factory building there and we have generating sets where we can generate electricity as well. The infrastructure is actually in place but we have to come up with the best possible crops that we want to get into.”

The government provided $9B this year but “financially, we are not in a healthy position; we still have a huge debt… Production was way below what we should have achieved but the El Nino (weather) did hit us hard…”

He said the drought would affect a bit of the second crop. “… the yields would not be there because the cane suffered some very poor growing conditions.”