With the Rose Hall estate factory grinding sugar again after six years, the estate appears to have already surpassed its production target.

The sugar estate which reopened at the end of September 2023, has already produced in excess of 130 tonnes of sugar.

During a visit to the Berbice region over the weekend, President Irfaan Ali told workers in the sugar belt that the sugar corporation, GuySuCo will be developing close to 4000 hectares of cane to be processed at the Rose Hall factory.

He credited the recent successes at the Rose Hall factory to sugar workers, who he said stuck with the government throughout the promises.

‘We are going to make the investments to keep your jobs, keep your families, keep your communities and keep sugar,’ the President told sugar workers.

The President said the management must also work to ensure the sustainability and the viability of the industry and the focus should be on making the industry better.  

“Let me say to our workers, that we will be first to acknowledge that you must get better and we will do everything to ensure that you get better. We will not neglect you but you also must be aware that together we also have to ensure that this industry gets better,” the President said.

According to the President, Guyana’s sugar industry will also play a crucial role in reducing CARICOM;’s food import bill. The region has set an ambitious target to reduce its food import bill by 25 percent by 2025.

Although, the sugar industry continues to face its share of problems, the President said he believes the industry has been improving its performance.

“Since 2021, approximately 2150 hectares of land is in cane. Oh, how sweet is sugar. I thank the workers, the union for this task. But there’s still greater work ahead of uu, 40 per cent of this—1480 hectares of land today, remain with overgrown bush. More like forest. That we have to find money to clear, reorganise and put back into production.” The President.

Since returning to office, the Government has spent over $60 Billion on the state owned sugar company, with hopes of turning the industry around.

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