The management of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has been instructed to prioritize increased cooperation with sugar workers as part of efforts to enhance the industry’s performance in 2025.
The call was issued by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Tuesday on the premise of the significant investments and challenges faced by the sector in recent years.
Between 2020 and 2024, the government invested a whopping $45 billion in the sugar industry, to revitalize the sector and make it a vital component of the country’s developmental plans.
The focus has been on modernizing operations, including the mechanization of estates, with almost 40 per cent of the estates now automated. Additionally, efforts have been made to recapitalise the industry by replacing broken infrastructure and systems to improve efficiency.
However, despite these efforts, the sugar industry has struggled to meet the production target of 63,276 tonnes of commodity this year. In response to these challenges, Mustapha has instructed GuySuCo management to work more closely with workers to address the issues facing the industry.
This he noted would require senior leaders, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul Cheong to conduct more intensive visits and increase interaction with workers in the field.
“So, both management and workers will have to work together. As you heard the president would have said in an interview, that we will have to change our ways of doing things to ensure that we achieve the targets that we have set for 2025. I want to tell you in advance that you will see several changes in management at GuySuCo. We will ensure that we make several changes in the new year. Also, you will see more intense, intense visits and interactions from the senior leadership of GuySuCo. We are encouraging the managers, we are encouraging the executive, and the example has been set by the CEO, to visit the field, to meet with the workers, to ensure that they listen to the proposal of the workers”.
“At one time, I asked GuySuCo to get the involvement of the workers in the decision-making, so that they also can contribute to the development of GuySuCo. We must not have this kind of relationship where we have managers and workers and managers and workers only have to listen to instructions. I want managers to take the proposals of workers so that we can have a better relation and we can develop this cooperation on a joint and a more partnership basis,” the Minister said.
Minister Mustapha also emphasized that improving industrial relations and reducing the likelihood of strikes will be key to the sector’s recovery. On this point, he stressed that the importance of GuySuCo extends beyond sugar production.
“We have to avoid strikes and we have to have more talks and more negotiation and as long we can do that, because GuySuCo is not only about sugar. It’s a lot of other things and when you look at the other socials, the social issues that GuySuCo deals with is a number, for example, sports in the community, primary health care, D&I services, all those things GuySuCo are involved in. So as a government, we see GuySuCo as an important link for us and that is why we will continue to develop this cooperation. We will ensure that we bring back this cooperation to the glory days where we can produce and it can also contribute once again to the country’s development,” he added.
With a focus on strengthening internal cooperation, the government hopes to bring the sugar industry back to its former glory, contributing once again to the nation’s development and economic growth.
As the new year approaches, changes are expected in the management structure of GuySuCo, signalling a renewed commitment to achieving higher productivity and greater collaboration between all stakeholders in the sugar industry.
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