$50B to be set aside for construction of farm-to-market roads in Reg. 3 – Pres. Ali

– audit being done to assess existing farm to market linkages in region

President Dr Irfaan Ali has revealed that an audit into existing farm to market infrastructure, specifically the underdeveloped mud dams, has been launched. Further, billions of dollars are being set aside to transform these roads in Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara).

The Head of State was at the time addressing farmers, including livestock and cash crop farmers, during a visit to Region Three. President Ali spoke of solutions the Government is working on to alleviate the cost of production.
“We have the existing farming lands, in which cost of production is high because of the challenges you have with transportation from the farm to the market. That is because most of it is still earthen dams.”
“So let me tell you the strategy. Right now, we’re completing an audit of all the farm to market access dams that we have all across the region. And we’re going to set aside $50 billion to start with, to fix all those farms to market access dams to all weather, hard surface roads,” he further announced.

According to President Ali, these initiatives would greatly assist the farmers in managing their costs, as well as closing the window for crops to suffer from spoilage. With the cost of production coming down, so too will prices.
Another way the Government plans to support farmers is through agriculture districts, with him promising that the Government will aid in opening up more than 75,000 acres of farmland.
“We have an estimate of about 75,000 acres of land, where people have transport or lease – land owned by people, but it is idle land right now because they don’t have access… Access is not all that you need. You will have access, but the capital investment to develop those lands will be incredibly high.”
“So, the Government will form different agricultural districts with you. And we will assign machinery to those districts, and they will help with the capital development of those lands for the farmers,” the Head of State added.
Last year, it had been announced that the Guyana Government was exploring a new technology that they were hoping to use to build-out mud dams across the country into durable farm-to-market access roads.
During a visit to Coverden, East Bank Demerara (EBD), President Ali had engaged farmers and residents from surrounding communities. A farmer had requested support from Government to build out a dam in Sarah Johanna, EBD. In fact, there were three dams at the time in the area that were in need of work to allow farmers to have easy access to their farmlands.
It was then that President Ali had informed them that the technology was undergoing testing at Laluni on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. He had explained that this technology would stabilise the clay and make it into a hard surface like concrete and that once successful, would be integrated into the work being done on these mud dams.
A few months ago, it had been revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture would be spending approximately $275.5 million on rehabilitating and constructing farm-to-market roads in Regions Three, Four and Five. As a matter of fact, tenders for these contracts had been issued through the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
This year marked the first time Guyana’s agriculture budget crossed the $100 billion mark, with an allocation of $104.6 billion to the agriculture sector. The fisheries, vegetables, other crops, fruits, coconut, livestock and rice all showed significant improvements for 2024, with further growth expected this year.