Houston Sugar Estate on the East Bank of Demerara is on the verge of celebrating 100 years since its establishment, but the verve for celebration is being tempered by the dictates of survival at its economic crossroads.

Houston Sugar Estate according to the records is the first sugar estate owned by a Guyanese, the late Manoel Vieira, popularly known as Buller, pioneer of the 100-year-old family business.

He was born on the West Coast of Demerara in then British Guiana on March 7, 1874. The records also state that he did not attend secondary school but moved immediately to earn his living by traditional means - honest, hard work.

He had ventured into the gold and diamond business after an initial investment in alcoholic beverages at another West Coast Demerara village, Meten-Meer-Zorg.

His entry into gold and diamond mining began in 1896, and he was reported to have shipped out “more diamond and gold than any rival of his time.”

From gold anddiamonds to sugar

It was 1926 when he bade farewell to the gold and diamond business, thus paving the way for his entry into the sugar industry of the British colony.

He became the owner of Plantation Mara and bought 68% in Plantation Friends in Berbice county; but these two estates have since been closed. He also invested in Plantation Versailles and Schoon Ord, West Bank Demerara, where he was a member of the Board of Directors.

July 24, 1903

At Houston on the East Bank, however, he was chairman of the sugar company, which was first launched on July 24, 1903.

One of his surviving sons, Maurice Vieira, who at 75 years is a company director and office manager, still recalls his dedicated father awaking in the wee hours of the morning to wend his way across to the Church to attend Mass and shortly after mounting his mule for the long journey to the cultivated areas of the plantation.

Joe Vieira

His elder brother, Joseph Vieira, popularly known as Joe Vieira, was deeply involved from the tender age of 18 in the development of the first sugar estate owned by a Guyanese. And today at 85, he still serves as chairman, bringing his training, skills, and experience to help in the industry’s survival.

These combined factors certainly explain the passion that fuels his response to questions on the company’s future after having impacted so favourably on the country’s economy, providing bread and butter for thousands of families, and standing on its own when so many other operations folded over the years.

“I started in the sugar industry at age 18 - that was in 1938 up to the present in 2003,” he recalled, in a Stabroek News interview, adding, “I have spent 65 years in the sugar industry.

I served as Director of British Guiana Sugar Producers also as Director of Guysuco from 1966 to the change of government in October, 1992.” He quickly added that he was recalled subsequently to serve as Director.

However, Joe Vieira, a man of action, was not too kindly disposed to spending time at anything that tended to give the impression of being a talk shop, and he wrote the chairman and relevant cabinet minister advising that too many meetings were being held by Guysuco, making him ineffective to contribute in the way that he could.

He continued to serve in the sugar company except for periods when he went abroad to undertake studies in engineering or when his services were diverted to other areas such as being at the helm of a successfully run Guyana Airways Corporation in those good old days.

His deep knowledge of management combined with his engineering skills caused Houston Estate to stand out with distinction as its efficiency levels ranked high in the local sugar operations.

The patriarch Manoel Vieira, on recognizing Joe’s potential in the area of sugar operations, placed the company totally in his hands when the young man was only 25 years.

Factory closure

In 1955, Houston Estate Limited had to take an economic reality check and this brought its factory to a closure. It had become uneconomical to continue processing its own sugar because of the relative small-scale operation.

Joe Vieira and team resolved that not withstanding the necessity for the closure of Houston Sugar Factory, the cultivation, husbandry and harvesting of sugar cane in Houston would remain a top priority; they resolved also that it would remain economically viable.

His early exposure to and training by William Stanley Jones, one of the names carved in the annals of the history of this country’s sugar development, helped in no small measure.

Vieira strongly believed in mechanization as a means of boosting cultivation and husbandry of sugar cane, and he followed his belief to the latter. This inspired his decision to invest some $150M in those early years to make a reality of his dreams.

Mechanization

A former editor captured the mood and efforts of those early days under the leadership of Joe Vieira - G. I. Gomes wrote: “Living with the times he is well aware of the importance of mechanization in industry, and to his credit stands a British Patent of a machine which cross-drains a “four-foot” while in operation. His active association with the sugar industry is not merely confined to his office of Chairman and Managing-Director of Plantation Houston Sugar Estates Company, he is also a Director of Plantation Versailles and Schoon Ord, Plantation Enmore, Plantation La Bonne Intention (LBI), and Plantation Ogle, as well as being a Director of the B.G. Sugar Producers Association, and Mechanical Co-coordinator of Bookers Sugar Estates.”

Work by example formed part of the work ethic of the Vieira clan.

Previously, it was the patriarch, the elder Vieira who awoke in the early hours of the morning to traverse the lengthy middle walk dams to the cane fields whether rain or shine. Now it was one of his 14 descendants who steadfastly carried out that task.

It is to their credit that in adapting to changing times more modern means of transportation were introduced for their field trips. Land Rovers took the place of the mules and for several years now the air-powered punt-shaped boat was put into operation. “We can tour the entire plantation in about two hours,” Joe Vieira explained.

Welfare

Both brothers, Maurice, 75, and Joseph, 85, recalled with admiration the humane and charitable approach of their late father. Long before it was in vogue, the small estate owners assisted in providing housing for their workers as well as medical facilities, though modest.

To date, a little but active dispensary still functions on the estate. Transportation for workers, land for welfare housing, and even a burial plot are among the amenities provided by the Houston Estate management team.

Joe Vieira readily recalls those early years of building Houston - it was not always easy for them but even in the toughest of times, there were good relations with the work force. It was not unusual for the management to be seen at the weddings and other functions of ordinary workers.

One other recollection is a letter from Chairman of Demerara Distillers Limited, Yesu Persaud. He noted that once Joe Vieira took over the company’s reins again in 1990, production had increased by 231% and net assets by 1,305%, with earnings per share increasing by 377%. “The results are the best in the Caribbean and it is my opinion that you are the most experienced Planter/Manager/ Director of sugar in the Caribbean,” Persaud wrote.

Economic crossroads

But one reality that now faces both workers and management at Houston Sugar Estate Limited is that while it is on the verge of celebrating 100 years, it is also at the economic crossroads.

Despite the fact that since 1992 the company became its own agent, it still pays some 30% of its annual income to the Guyana Sugar Corporation.

This by itself is suffocating and the problem is compounded by wage costs.

Company officials are aggrieved over the last balance sheet which shows that the profit-making Houston Estate has been reduced to a loss of $7M.

The company last year paid out an annual production bonus of $10M to its 200-odd workers, and suffered a further $8M deficit because of the shortfall in the selling price of sugar.

Company Chairman Joseph Vieira said he regretted having to inform the sugar union GAWU that for the immediate future it will not be able to pay the annual production bonus but would continue the weekly incentive bonus.

Company Secretary and Financial Controller, Sukhnandan, who is aware of the bottom line, is also sharing the concerns of his managerial colleagues that runaway payments could be detrimental to the company’s and the industry’s future.

Joe Vieira noted that the problem of profitability is not limited to market prices, the charge to Guysuco and to high labour costs, but the question of maintenance as well is important. He observed that in the early years punts could have been purchased for a few thousand dollars, but today a punt costs around $450,000.

In a nutshell, the question is whether 100 years will signal the end of the first sugar company owned by a Guyanese, or factors will nourish its continuing longevity.