13 agro-processing facilities to come on stream this year – Mustapha

As many as 13 agro-processing facilities will be coming onstream in Guyana this year, in furtherance of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) push to increase food production in Guyana and the Caribbean Region as a whole.
Making this announcement was Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, during a recent outreach to Ann’s Grove, East Coast of Demerara (ECD), on Saturday. In fact, true to the promise he made on Saturday, Minister Mustapha returned to Ann’s Grove on Tuesday to meet with farmers in the village.
“Let me make this very clear. This Government works every single day. Every day, in every part of this country we are working. To ensure that we bring relief to the people of this country,” the Minister said during the Ann’s Grove outreach on Saturday.
“By the end of this year we will commission more than 13 agro-processing facilities across the country. And the closest one [to Ann’s Grove] is Hope Estate. I’m inviting you that you can take on the farmers from Ann’s Grove, to use that facility.”
The Minister had also promised that if the youths of Ann’s Grove could be organised into a collective, they can be brought on board in a project to facilitate the production of livestock and high-value crops. On his return to Ann’s Grove, Minister Mustapha met with farmers and residents from Ann’s Grove and other surrounding villages on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD).
It was only in March that the Agriculture Ministry issued an invitation for sealed bids from qualified and eligible bidders for the construction of a processing facility for the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) at Orealla, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
The GMC received a $37 million investment in July 2022, considerably increasing Guyana’s capability for agricultural processing. To the advantage of all farmers who need help processing their produce, funding is made available to guarantee that agro-processing facilities become operational.
At Fort Wellington, West Coast Berbice, a cutting-edge food processing facility valued $37 million was officially opened. In addition, a $15 million agro-processing complex was also commissioned at St Ignatius, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), in November 2022.
Among the initiatives being pioneered by Guyana is the development of a regional agri-tech campus in Guyana. This project is being developed along with the Bangalore Bio Innovation Centre (BBC) in India.
The BBC, according to its website, is a state-of-the-art translational research and entrepreneurship centre catering to all the needs of start-ups in life science located in the city of Bangalore, India. President Ali noted that the project will see technology and crop variety being developed that are catered for the Caribbean Region.
Last year, an agri-investment forum and expo was held in Guyana, a joint initiative between the Government and Caricom Secretariat. Government has also said it will be partnering with the private sector to establish a regional food hub.
Government’s focus on agriculture is down to the vision of making Guyana the bread basket of the Caribbean and reducing the regional food import bill. Last year, President Dr Irfaan Ali had declared that his Government would be pursuing an aggressive campaign to dismantle regional barriers to agricultural trade and that in the next four years, with the assistance of more diversified crops, Guyana would aim to reduce Caricom’s food import bill by 25 per cent.
It was reported in February that Member States of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have collectively achieved a significant 57 per cent of the target set to realise “Vision 25 by 2025”. This announcement was made during the first Caricom Ministerial Task Force (MTF) on Food Production and Food Security meeting for 2023. (G3)