The Ministry of Agriculture sought to clear the air today on reports that 243 tonnes of sugar was missing from the Rose Hall estate.
In a statement, the Ministry said the sugar is not missing, but rather 243 tonnes of sugar was overstated in the production figures for the estate, triggering a decision to take action against staff members responsible for the error.
The Ministry said there was no theft of 243 tonnes of sugar, but an audit revealed an overstatement of sugar production resulting from serious breaches of standard operating procedures.
It was explained that the figure was shown from an audit conducted of the estate’s first crop sugar production in 2024. The Ministry noted that the audit is an established practice of the corporation at all estates at the conclusion of each crop to verify the accuracy of the sugar declared by the estates.
The statement did not reveal what may have led to the overstatement of the sugar production at the estate. However, two managers were fired last week leading to a brief strike by many of the workers at the estate.
The Rose Hall estate was reopened in October last year after the Government spent billions of dollars to get the estate back up and running. It was closed under the former APNU+AFC Government, which cited economic reasons behind the decision.
Since regaining office in 2020, the current Government has been pumping billions of dollars into the sugar industry, while losing billions annually. Sugar production continues to be on the decline, with the mid-year sugar production figures described as the worst in the sugar industry’s history.
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