Another major boost in transforming agriculture sector in Guyana

Dear Editor,
As the Government is aggressively putting in efforts to ensure that our farmers stay on top of tackling food insecurity, the Ministry of Agriculture is creating a stronger agriculture sector, by making major investments and having many collaborative efforts with regional and international partners and agencies to transform the lives of all Guyanese.
Over the past week, we heard of two more major inputs that are being given to the livestock industry and the cash crop sector, which will tremendously boost the development of our country.
Since the launching of the black belly sheep project in Region 5 by President Ali, where an estimated $600 million (US$3 million) investment was made by the administration, the project has been a major success, and has benefited farmers tremendously.
It saw cattle farmers becoming more interested in making major investments in this sector, to ensure that it remains vibrant and economical. Farmers invested heavily in their infrastructure, and many started their grass fields in order to be self-reliant in ensuring the animals are being best kept and fed.
Since the launching of this project, the Ministry of Agriculture, through its sub-agency the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), has been on the ground providing technical and many other forms of support those farmers need within this industry. To date, since the start of this project, we have not heard of any major problems or hiccups within same.
On July 1st, 2023, the Guyana Chronicle carried an article in which it said the Barbados Minister of Agriculture and Food Security has announced that Guyana will be receiving another 300 black belly sheep. Once again, this is yet another effort and way of boosting the livestock sector. More farmers will be benefitting, and more investments will be done in further boosting this sector.
Also, on July 1, 2023, in an article carried by the Guyana Chronicle under the caption “Approximately 6,000 farmers to benefit from US$3M worth of ‘agri’ inputs”, it was stated that it will be made possible through the provision of specialised extension services, critical machinery, and planting materials that were procured through funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) under the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agriculture Sector Development Unit’s (ASDU) Sustainable Agriculture Development Programme (SADP) project.
Again, this is a major investment in the agri. sector for farmers, because not only would they have technical support, but also support in terms of equipment and planting materials.
Through an investment of this nature, the Ministry of Agriculture is again putting our farmers on top of the agenda when it comes to food security for our nation and further afield, by standing by the side of our local farmers towards major development.
Farmers from across Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 will have opportunity to gain from this boost in things such as land tillers, water pumps, drip systems, shade house materials, threshing machines, plucking machines, gestation crates, breeding animals (cattle, swine, small ruminants, black giants), planting materials, among other things to improve their operations and enhance productivity. According to the article, farmers will be benefitting from technical support in areas such as best practices for both plant and animal husbandry, as well as technological integration in agriculture. This will allow and further encourage farmers to get more into investing in farmlands and cattle rearing. It will help farmers in ensuring that they continue on the path towards better development of the agri. sector in ensuring that we have food on our tables.
This President Irfaan Ali-led administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the strong leadership of the Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha, MP, continue aggressively to advance the efforts in tackling food insecurity while transforming the lives of all our people.
Since the PPP/C took office in 2020, we have all seen major improvements, developments, and investments in Guyana’s agricultural sector whereby all farmers are benefitting regardless of race, religion or political affiliation.

Regards,
Abel Seetaram