Adapt business approach to agriculture – GSA’s CEO

Students from the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), local farmers, agro-processors and budding agriculturists are being encouraged to adapt sustainable and innovative business approaches to agriculture, as they work to thrive in the sector.
The group, which amounted to about 50 participants were at the time engaged in a capacity-building session hosted by GSA in collaboration with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).
The event provided the space for the participants to be fully equipped with information and skills geared towards improving their knowledge, particularly in the business arena.
This included learning about business compliance, record-keeping and the importance of documentation, especially as it relates to accessing financing.
Additionally, it created the opportunity for them to gain valuable insight into what’s happening in the sector regionally, as it relates to challenges and innovations like climate smart agriculture.

According to GSA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gavin Ramnarain, the programme coincides with the national agenda to boost farmers entrepreneurial capabilities to increase the production of food while upgrading their livelihoods.
On this point, he emphasised the need to continuously encourage and provide guidance to youths in the sector so that they will see agriculture as a profitable business.
“Agriculture is business and there’s an awful lot of money to be made in agriculture and the young people have to be inspired to go into the field and I think that once they come to a place like GSA and interactive session like this, they begin to realise that it is a profitable business and it inspires them to take more risk. And there are banks here so they need to know how to create up a business plan,” the GSA CEO said.
Meanwhile, Adviser at the Agriculture Ministry, Dr Richard Blair, encouraged the participants to adapt to change in agriculture and rural development, given that it is crucial for economic growth of Guyana.
According to Blair, by doing this farmers and agro-processors will be able to thrive in a globalised environment, thus aiding in building a more sustainable and prosperous agricultural landscape in Guyana.
“This programme fits very snuggly with government’s overall grand and ambitious goal of making agriculture highly competitive, resilient, and of course profitable for farmers like yourselves … it’s a good thing when all of you can come together and exchange ideas that contributes to cross fertilisation of knowledge and it creates an environment for creativeness, innovation and adaptability,” Dr Blair.
The capacity-building session organised by GCCI, follows several similar sessions hosted across the country.
Together with partnering agencies such as the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), the Guyana Food Safety Authority, the New Guyana Marketing Corporation, the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board, the Small Business Bureau, and the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), GCCI hopes to achieve its objective of contributing to food security and diversification of the economy.
This in keeping with the private sector’s pledge to propel the trajectory of Guyana’s agriculture sector through support, knowledge exchange and empowerment. (G1)