WIN Party Pitches Sugar Industry Revival in New ‘AgriVision 2030’ Plan
By Alethea Grant | HGP Nightly News
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — As Guyana heads toward the 2025 General and Regional Elections, the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party is making a bold policy pitch with the launch of AgriVision 2030, a national plan to modernize the country’s sugar industry, create jobs, and broaden the sector’s scope through legislative reform and investment.
The plan, unveiled this week, argues that while the sugar sector is in crisis, it remains viable if aligned with targeted reforms in technology, land access, and governance.
The WIN party’s proposal comes at a time when many sugar-dependent communities continue to grapple with the fallout from estate closures, income losses, and limited employment alternatives. AgriVision 2030 offers more than a dozen policy commitments aimed at protecting livelihoods and modernizing operations.
A Sector in Decline — But Not Beyond Repair
Once the backbone of Guyana’s economy, the sugar industry has suffered decades of mismanagement, underinvestment, and falling global prices. The once-thriving Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) shuttered several key estates — including Wales, Rose Hall, Skeldon, and Enmore — between 2016 and 2017, displacing thousands of workers.
Although the current administration moved to reopen estates in 2020, production continues to lag far below target. In 2022, national output was just 56,000 tons, well below the 100,000-ton benchmark.
WIN’s plan aims to reverse this trend with a mixture of policy, technical, and financial interventions.
Key Pillars of AgriVision 2030
- Update to the National Cane Farming Committee Act (1965) to reflect modern challenges facing cane farmers
- Wage increases targeted at rural sugar workers plagued by years of stagnation
- Energy-efficient technologies to cut costs and improve productivity
- Grants, tax incentives, and technical support for crop diversification
- Land allocation: 10% of cane lands to be allocated to organized farming groups
- Emphasis on sustainable, diversified agriculture beyond just sugar
Targeting Disillusioned Communities
The strategy appears aimed at wooing voters in rural constituencies hardest hit by closures under both the PPPC and APNU+AFC governments. WIN’s promises of fair wages, legal reform, and rural land empowerment are likely to resonate with sugar workers still waiting for meaningful support.
However, critical questions remain — chiefly, how the WIN party plans to fund the initiative and whether modernization alone can return the industry to profitability in a competitive global market.
Sugar in Guyana’s Future
Whether the electorate views AgriVision 2030 as a realistic strategy or mere political posturing will become clearer as the campaign unfolds. Still, WIN is sending a clear message: sugar is not just Guyana’s past — it can still be part of its future.
