….26, 956 tonnes less than it had initially targeted
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) said it is on course to achieving a total annual production of 89,000 tonnes of sugar before the close of the second crop in two weeks. However, the figure represents a shortfall of 26,956 tonnes of sugar it had initially targeted at the beginning of the 2020.
At the conclusion of the First Crop in June 2020, the sugar corporation achieved a total of 37,015 tonnes of sugar or 79.6 per cent of the budgeted target of 46,476 tonnes of sugar. As such, there was a shortfall of 9,461 tonnes.
The Corporation’s indication that it is likely to achieve a total annual production of 89,000 tonnes of sugar by the end of December, suggests that that by the end of second crop some 51,985 tonnes of sugar will be produced.
The initial budgeted target for the second crop was 69,480 tonnes of sugar. It therefore means, that there will be a shortfall 17,495 tonnes of sugar for the second crop. But the overall shortfall of 26, 956 tonnes of sugar is due to a number of challenges including poor weather condition.
In a statement on Monday, the Sugar Corporation said the Uitvlugt Estate on the West Coast Demerara is rapidly winding down for the second crop bringing its total annual production of sugar to 85,531 tonnes as December 6, 2020 – an indication that it is well on its way to achieving 89,000 tonnes of sugar by the end of the year.
Uitvlugt Estate, one of the three Operational Estates managed by GuySuCo, has concluded its production for the second crop of 2020 with a total of 18,599.4 tonnes of sugar as of December 6, 2020.
The Estate Manager, Yudhisthira Mana explained that while the Estate experienced several challenges in the cultivation as a result of inclement weather during the latter part of the crop and the factory due to a lack of timely access to spare parts, employees of the Estate must be commended for diligently harvesting all of the available sugar cane on the Estate resulting in zero amounts being carried over into the First Crop of 2021.
“The Uitvlugt Estate cultivates and manages a total of 6,006 Hectares of sugar cane of which several members of the Private Cane Farmers’ Association are controlling 1,750 Hectares,” GuySuCo noted.
In outlining the challenges of the second crop, the Estate Manager said as a result of the massive factory downtime earlier in the Crop (some 430 hours mainly due to lack of spares), sugar cane grinding was stalled for more than 8 days which impacted the tonnes cane to tonnes sugar ratio (tc/ts).
He noted, however, that all technical issues are actively being addressed with the support of G$3B capital investments from the Government.
The Corporation said in 2021, there will be a continuation of these capital investments after three years of minimal investments under the previous administration.
During the latter stage of harvesting, sugar production at the Estate was also threatened due to the inclement weather that prevailed resulting in the fields being inundated and the inability to burn the canes before harvesting and operation of the bell loaders.
In acknowledging the favorable industrial relations climate, the Corporation expressed profound gratitude to all workers for their commitment to improving sugar production despite the many challenges. It assured that all measures would be taken to improve both infrastructure and other conditions for 2021 and beyond.
The Uitvlugt Estate employs a total of 1,403 workers.
