A tractor ploughing a rice field in Berbice, Guyana, as seen in this June 2008 Gleaner photo. - File
Guyana is expelling managers of its sugar industry in hopes of boosting production.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud says the South American country is ending a 19-year contract with Britain-based Booker Tate.
The government blames strikes and poor crop management, as well as heavy rainfall, for a decline in production.
Booker Tate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company helped manage Guyana's state-owned company Guysuco, which runs all eight of the country's sugar estates.
Persaud said Thursday that Guyana produced 226,000 tonnes (205,000 metric tonnes) of sugar last year despite a projected 315,000 tonnes (290,000 metric tonnes).
Guyana is the Caribbean's largest sugar-producing nation, outputting 268,798 tonnes of sugar in the 2008 crop, of the 519,481 tonnes produced by the remaining four member countries of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean. The others are Jamaica, Belize and Barbados.
- AP