When I was Agriculture Minister, Guyana was self-sufficient in chicken production. We had achieved this level of production for several years before I became Agriculture Minister. In fact, by 2012, we were not only self-sufficient in chicken production, we were preparing to overcome trade barriers to allow us to export within Caribbean Community (Caricom), to take a portion of the US0 million Caricom market for chicken. It is, therefore, shocking to read that A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) has issued import licences for chicken and that one of those licences has been issued to one of the People’s National Congress leaders, Dr Richard Van West-Charles, the son-in-law of Forbes Burnham.
This is Agriculture Month and the biggest news surrounding agriculture is that the APNU/AFC wants to import chicken into Guyana. This is simply ludicrous. They have not explained to the citizens why there is a need to import chicken. Is it that Guyana can no longer produce chicken to meet local demands? Or is this another excuse to kill another agriculture power house in Guyana? Did APNU/AFC consult with the Poultry Producers Association or are they ignoring the poultry producers?
The announcement or rather the issuance that have been exposed demonstrates how clueless APNU/AFC is on agriculture. Sugar is in dire crisis; rice is on a downward trajectory; fish export is reduced; food import is on the rise. Now a solidly self-sufficient industry is being threatened with imported competition. At a time when agriculture output is dropping, it would have been sensible to ensure that poultry farmers are not discouraged. But issuing importing licences for chicken is a death blow to an industry that has made phenomenal progress. No doubt this is another assault on the agriculture sector and the economy is collateral damage as APNU/AFC pursues narrow political greed.
The poultry producers were producing more than 30 million kilograms of chicken annually by 2012. In 2014, poultry meat consumption in Guyana averaged about 42kg per person per year, compared to less than 8kg in 1990. The average consumption in the Americas in 2014 was 38kg. Globally the average consumption today is about 15kg. The fact is that the poultry producers meet the local demand for poultry meat and has the capacity to increase production for export in a Caricom market, with an average annual consumption of about 45kg per capita, but production capacity of less than 25kg per capita. What has changed to necessitate import licences being issued?
The industry is not only saving Guyana from foreign currency expenditure but has contributed to significant employment, and lends support to other downstream associated economic activities. Have they not considered that importing chicken will also impact stock feed production? One important consumer for broken rice is in fact the stock feed producers. By importing chicken, the rice industry is also affected. Clearly, the decision to issue import licences for chicken is a travesty because it threatens not only the poultry producers, but the livelihood of thousands of other people. Incidentally, killing the poultry industry will affect the efforts that I started – to develop a soya and corn industry in Guyana.
Agriculture is collateral damage for pursuing selfish paydays for a handful of people. Just like the warehouse scandal, the parking meter fiasco and other corrupt dealings, the importation of chicken is intended to enrich a handful of APNU/AFC donors and supporters, threatening the livelihood of thousands of people. We have seen a well-defined pattern that APNU/AFC has crafted, a pattern intended to benefit a few at the expense of the vast majority of the Guyanese people. This pattern is evident in the incredulous importation of stone for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport upgrading project. This too is putting a local industry at risk and exposing the livelihood of hundreds of citizens and their families.
What is stunningly painful about this latest APNU/AFC ineptitude is that its head, President David Granger, is on record as saying that Guyana intends to help reduce Caricom’s food import bill. Caricom has a food import bill in excess of US$4 billion and importation of chicken accounts for between US$200 and US$250 million annually. Guyana has the capacity to reduce its own food import bill and to meet some of the food demands of Caricom. There should not be any doubt that Guyana can be the food basin of Caricom. But we cannot attain our potential of being Caricom’s food basket by threatening our agriculture producers, merely because we have donors and supporters to enrich. The continued focus on satisfying the greed of donors and supporters diminish our potential as Caricom’s bread basket. Guyana becomes collateral damage of a greedy, short-sighted charlatan administration.
