Agriculture Month: Guyana’s diversified agriculture sector aims at slashing Caricom’s food imports by 25% by 2025 – President Ali

…says Guyana pursuing aggressive campaign to dismantle regional barriers to agricultural trade

In the next four years, Guyana, with the assistance of more diversified crops, is aiming to reduce the Caribbean Community’s (Caricom’s) food import bill by 25 per cent, according to President Dr Irfaan Ali.

“Guyana intends to become the agricultural heartland of the English-speaking Caribbean, and play its part in helping the Caribbean Community reduce its food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025,” the President said in his Agriculture Month message.
October is designated Agriculture Month, and this year it is being observed under the theme “Transforming our Food Systems: Achieving Food and Nutrition Security.”
The Head of State has said that Agriculture Month recognises the importance of the sector’s contributions to the Guyana economy, in addition to the critical role it plays in guaranteeing food security and supporting sustainable livelihoods.
He explained that agriculture has long been a mainstream of Guyana’s economy, and its contribution cannot be downplayed.
He added that, in 2020, the sector was responsible for 16.2 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and along with forestry and fishing, it accounts for 12.2 per cent of the national employment numbers.
“The sector makes a valuable contribution to the country’s foreign exchange earnings…and provides livelihoods for thousands of workers and their families,” the President has said.
Referring to the devastating May-June floods which crippled the agriculture sector and sent food prices through the roof, the President said Government’s priority has always been, and remains, the rapid recovery of the sector. He posited that Government is supporting the restoration of the agriculture sector, with its distribution of flood and recovery among farmers.
“We are also reversing some of the ills of the sector. In just over one year in Government, we have also made progress in strengthening agricultural institutions, improving drainage and irrigation, providing incentives to boost production and diversification, conducting countrywide engagements with farmers, and enhancing the business environment to drive agricultural growth,” the message related.
Outlining a 10-year mission, President Ali said the aim is to “secure an expanded, diversified and modernised, resilient and competitive sector.” Presenting the plan to achieve that aim, Ali said Government is expanding the productive sector with investments in large-scale cultivation, including that of soya and corn; high-yielding, pest-resistant and climate-resilient crop varieties aimed at making local agriculture more resilient; modernisation that would involve the establishment of modern farms and increase use of technology and more efficient farm practices. Diversification would include promoting increased aquaculture, and through the cultivation of new crops; and Guyana is also pursuing an aggressive campaign to dismantle restrictive regional barriers to the trade in agricultural produce, to foster increased agricultural exports and stimulate more production.
The President’s message also related that the transformation of local agriculture would involve an inclusive approach, which would include the active participation of the Government and the Private Sector, and continued engagements with farmers, agriculturalists, agronomists, veterinarians, food exporters/importers, academia, the scientific community, and other stakeholders.

“The development of local agriculture is also pivotal to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the recently concluded UN Food Systems Summit, Guyana committed to focusing on concrete actions to build more sustainable, equitable and resilient food systems, and to accelerate progress towards the SDGs… Guyana’s agriculture sector is on a transformative pathway; an exciting future lies ahead,” he said.
On Monday, President Ali, on a visit to the soya bean and corn projects in Ebini, said sustainable food and agriculture is the country’s future.
The Head of State took an on-the-ground tour of the 115-acre soya bean and five-acre corn pilot projects in Ebini, Upper Berbice River, where he was able to closely inspect the crops and evaluate their growth. The project is aimed at proving all raw materials for the production of livestock and poultry feed for the local sector.
The President was also given a progress report on the project and the plans for its expansion by David Fernandes of Bounty Farm, Alex Mendez of Dubulay Ranch, and Shameer Mohammed of Royal Chicken.
President Ali also pointed out that the project would give the Government the chance to diversify the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
“We are already discussing how we can expand this partnership, and one of the things that we have always talked about in GuySuCo is to have diversification; and we are now discussing with the group how we can use one field in the next phase of the trial to do the same thing that we have done here; replicate the same thing, and then to see the cost efficiency, the operation efficiency, and the profitability; because this is not done for the love of it alone, it has to be profitable, it has to make financial and economic sense.”
The President had said that lands in the various estates would be examined and tested to see which can be viable to replicate the project and further diversify the sugar company.
Earlier in September, the President had announced that over 20 acres of land would become available to expand cash crop farming in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam). He had indicated that this is in keeping with his Government’s mandate to place more emphasis on food production and agriculture.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Wednesday last said the “agriculture sector has what it takes to drive the economy post-COVID-19”.
He said the unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been felt not only in public health systems, but in the economy; it has amplified Guyana’s awareness of the importance of food security. Noting that Guyana is a food-secure country, he said Guyana had, in 1996, met the global hunger targets of the World Food Summit, and in 2000, the hunger target of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
According to the Minister, Guyana produces 59 per cent of the food it consumes, which means that its food-import dependence is 41 per cent. However, he added that it is Government’s intention to reduce this import- dependence by creating an enabling environment for an efficient and competitive local manufacturing sector.