Sharp attention was drawn to the sugar sector on Tuesday as Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and Opposition Parliamentarian Vishnu Panday clashed as the 2026 Budget Debate continued in the National Assembly.
And out of that clash came a major announcement. Mustapha, armed with a copy of the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) five-year strategic plan, said the body will return to profitability in 2030.
According to Mustapha, mechanisation at the sugar estates will expand while factories will be modernised. In turn, production is expected to increase.
These investments build on significant work already completed over the past five years to stabilise and revitalise the sector. During that period, the government reopened the Rose Hall Estate and upgraded field and factory infrastructure at Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall, and Uitvlugt—moves which Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh has said helped re-energise rural communities that had been severely impacted by the industry’s decline.
The government has allocated $13.4 billion for the sugar industry in 2026, with a major push towards mechanisation, factory upgrades, and expanded value-added production. Allocations for the sugar sector form part of the $113.2 million agriculture sector budget.
But Mustapha wasn’t merely highlighting plans for the sector; he was forced to defend these allocations after Panday, GuySuCo’s former Agriculture Director, made scathing remarks about the sector.
Panday said GuySuCo’s shortcomings are largely due to mismanagement at the corporation. He claimed that party loyalists, not qualified managers, were placed at the helm of the industry.
Mustapha rejected those assertions, stating instead that Panday’s services at the corporation were discontinued because he failed to increase production across several estates and was unable to plant sugarcane at the Skeldon Estate.
“Although he spoke at length on sugar, he cannot defend his record,” Mustapha said.
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