Dear Editor,
Congratulations on the launch of Kiskadee Watch! I wish you success and prosperity in this new venture!
I wish to share my unpopular opinion about our sugar industry and why I believe that we should continue to cultivate sugar in Guyana.
I won’t argue my point until I have stated the truth that our sugar industry is in an anemic state. Yes, I do admit that we are seeing a decline in production and the cost to produce sugar is far higher than our counterparts. In Guyana’s case it costs us $1.00 USD to produce one pound of sugar compared to the rest of the world who produces sugar at 20 cents U.S. per pound.
So why would I say that we should continue to produce sugar?
Sugar is a natural product. If you do fast pace walking, it burns fat. If you do jogging, it burns sugar. But how do we burn off high fructose corn syrup? The United States wanted to do away with sugar and use an alternative that was native to their land. They used corn instead of sugar cane and they came up with High Fructose Corn Syrup. The fear of consuming high fructose corn syrup is growing in the U.S with childhood obesity becoming a high number to tackle. Not only is it detrimental to health, there are companies who are producing cereals, maple syrup, BBQ sauce and a wide variety of other packaged foods that are emphasizing that their products are made of ‘real sugar’ and NOT corn syrup.
This is good news for Guyana! This is something that we can tap into and advertise our sugar. The Americans are already here investing in our oil but how about our sugar?
Which leads me to my next point. The Simple Market Strategy (SMS). Since we have a high demand resource: oil. Why not sell it along with our low demand product: sugar. Pair them together. It’s a Simple Market Strategy! Just try it! Sell sugar and oil together.
The sugar industry is not a clothing industry, it is a food industry. Food is far more vital than clothes. If the government was pouring billions in a non-essential industry I would say to stop immediately. The truth is sugar remains a product that people use every day including those who say that we should close the industry down.
Today, the average small shop in Bourda Market would sell about three bags of sugar per week. That’s three hundred and thirty pounds of sugar a week from one small shop (based on my investigation). Customers are still buying sugar which means that we still have a demand for it. With hotels being constructed all over Guyana and our food industry growing we are still in need of the sugar estates!
Producing sugar keeps us self-sufficient. With wars breaking out around the world food security is vital. I was shocked that one day when I went to buy sugar from my local Bourda Market shop and I saw a large one hundred and ten pound bag of sugar marked, “product of Belize”! What are we going to do if Belize stops selling us sugar? Buy from India? What if someone blocks the ocean, like what happened with the Strait of Hormuz? What are we going to do?
The sugar industry may be facing bitter times today, but abandoning it completely may leave us with an even bigger challenge tomorrow.
Let us find ways to modernize it, improve efficiency, and make it sustainable.
Let us keep producing sugar — because what is bitter today may become sweeter in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Pushpa Jagnandan
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