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…as Uitvlugt surpasses target for second week
Uitvlugt Estate for the second consecutive week has achieved its weekly production target, a feat attributed the resilience of sugar workers and government’s interventions at the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo).
At the Uitvlugt Estate, the corporation’s lone operating estate in Demerara, workers were extremely jubilant as they achieved 1,006.6 Metric Tonnes (MT) of sugar, surpassing the week’s production target for the second week of complete grinding at the factory since the commencement of the 1st crop 2021, GuySuCo said in a statement Saturday evening.
According to the corporation during the initial days of the 1st crop, 2021, GuySuCo’s engineering corps along with all factory team members worked diligently to rectify major defects observed during the pre-crop factory trials also known as steam trials. “This week, the Uitvlugt factory recorded a total of 125 grinding hours, a significant improvement compared to 116 the previous week. At Uitvlugt, the factory is expected to grind for 130-135 hours per week,” GuySuCo statement read.
The sugar corporation said thus far, the Uitvlugt Estate harvested a total of 416 hectares of cane (42% of which was provided by private farmers. “Both the private farmers and the Estate used semi mechanical and manual harvesting techniques to harvest more than 28,000 Metric Tonnes of Cane to produce 2,068 Metric Tonnes sugar over a two-week period of operations,” the statement added.
As a result of the improved efficiency of factory operations, sugar productivity levels continue to climb steadily from approximately 14.5 tonnes cane per tonnes sugar (TCTS) to an average of 12.97 TCTS. “The estate has more access to improved cane transport routes and factory operation in 2021 compared to 2020 which directly contributed to this improved performance. Notable improvements pertaining to the factory’s operations this crop include: increase power generation due repairs in the power house, a better mix of bagasse/fossil fuel usage contributing to reduction in cost, better quality of sugar cane harvested because of the strategy in the industry to go back to the basics in the agronomical practices and getting the nutrients for the plant on time, less extraneous matter as a result of repairs to cane dumper area conducted prior to crop, better quality sugar crystals due to repairs completed at the crystallizers and a new boiler chimney which is allowing better combustion and performance in the boilers and more consistent steam generation on the Estate,” GuySuCo said.
As of week ending March 12, 2021, private farmers of Region #3 (Essequibo Islands/ West Demerara) harvested a total of 174 hectares of sugar cane which they supplied to the Uitvlugt Estate factory for sugar production. This represents an increase of over 100% when compared with the same two-week period last year.
According to GuySuCo, after a dismal 2020, Estate Manager of Uitvlugt Yudhisthira Mana,
Attributed the improvement in the Estate’s productivity in 2021 to the workers’ resilience, injection of over $50M towards factory repairs conducted prior to commencement of the 1st Crop 2021 and most importantly the continued confidence of the private farmers in the ability of the Estate’s management to produce sugar of the highest quality.
Commenting on this Estate’s performance, GuySuCo quoted its CEO, Sasenarine Singh
as commending not only Uitvlugt, but also all the teams from the various Estates “for their resilience, resourcefulness and resolves to sweat the assets to create greater value opportunities from the monies invested in the process.” He also thanked them for pushing production and sale of packaged sugar as the industry shifts its focus to meeting the needs of all customers with the aim of providing products of greater value packaged hygienically. Singh also reiterated that the price for packaged sugar has not increase.
