…in sugar
As old Charles Dickens complained, the best of times can also be the worst of times. And as we look at the situation in the sugar sector, Dickens could very well be speaking about us here in Guyana. After languishing in the doldrums for years, the world market price for sugar headed for the skies – and then stayed there for the past five years or so. So you’d think our folks in sugar would be dancing in the streets, after their “profit sharing” and higher salaries, wouldn’t you?
If you said, “yes”, you’d be wrong. Problem is, after suffering the 10 lean years, we had no sugar to take advantage of the 10 fat years. What happened? Guyana became too successful economically, that’s what. Right now the sugar estates just can’t get enough people to work in the cane fields to cut canes. We know the work is hard and all that…but when a cane-cutter can take home Gy$80,000 a week, and you can’t get cane-cutters, it means that cane-cutters can make more money elsewhere. And that’s the bottom line.
We don’t know what the Opposition’s carrying on about, bitching and moaning about “unemployment”. There are thousands of jobs available in the sugar industry. We know that labour isn’t completely fungible…but Jeez, can’t some of these underpaid Public Service workers and unemployed Social Science graduates, for instance, turn up at the sugar order line? The pay is great as mentioned above, the hours are even better and transportation is free. What more can you ask?
C’mon, your country needs you. Imagine we are producing at least 100,000 tonnes below what we can produce without the “troubled” Skeldon Factory. At US$550 per tonne, we’re talking about raking in a cool US$55,000,000…$11 billion in our money. And it’s this kind of realism we’d been expecting from the Opposition after the new dispensation, when it came to development of the country.
Rather than seeking to score cheap political points and harping on a “failed sugar industry”, as Clive Thomas is doing ad nauseum in the Stabber News, why don’t they tell all Guyanese – not just their constituents – that there’s nothing wrong with good, old, honest labour. But this will never be.
Of course, it could be that Thomas, realising the WPA’s down to four or five doddering supporters, figures his exhortations are of absolutely no use.
But what’s APNU’s and AFC’s excuse?
…in rice
Whatever we’ve said about challenges to the production of sugar, the opposite’s true for rice…yet we’re hearing moans of gloom in this sector. What’s going on here, pray tell? Well, it’s a variant of the old “too much of a good thing”. Last year we crossed the half-a-million tonne mark and are well on the way of exceeding that. So that’s good, no?
Well, not when you haven’t anybody to have the extra rice sold to. When this happens, you have the case they teach you in primary school: supply exceeds demand and the price falls. Whether it’s with tomatoes, or rice or whatever…this will happen when you haven’t arranged for sales. And so you get the headline as in our newspaper of yesterday: “Plenty rice, no market…Berbice farmers fume over prices being offered.”
But what bothers us is why have we come to this stage? Didn’t we know since last year as to how many acres will be planted this year? We darned well did. Somebody in charge of marketing our rice has been sleeping at the wheel…and our Agriculture Minister better wake them up.
…on elections
The AFC’s demanding the government schedules Local Government Elections by August 1, even though GECOM is adamant they need a six-month lead time. Has Ramjattan forgotten GECOM’s an autonomous entity? Or is he still imbibing, uninterruptible, since Mash?