Govt seeking to open new lands in savannahs to expand corn, soya cultivation – Min Mustapha

On the precipice of several groundbreaking initiatives to achieve food security and Vision 25 by 2025, the Agriculture Ministry is pulling out all the stops to augment its efforts locally. Now, attention is being placed on the intermediate savannahs, and projects which can be rolled out there.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Monday addressed an event to mark Agriculture Month, where he announced that the Government is looking at opening new lands in the intermediate savannahs.
“The Government continues to invest in opening new agricultural lands. We are looking to open new lands in the intermediate savannah. We are going into new crops. We’re talking about corn and soya, high-value crops, and trial of wheat. Very shortly, bio-fortified rice will become a variety for farmers to plant. These are monumental achievements for us in the agriculture sector,” Mustapha outlined.

The Government has partnered with the private sector in the intermediate savannah to commence production of corn and soya – two products for which the country is aiming to be self-sufficient by 2025. This means all livestock feed will be produced locally.
Combined efforts have been made to achieve food security by amplifying food production, introducing new crops, creating markets for farmers, and diving into agro-processing.
In light of this, he noted that the next two years will be critical in achieving regional targets.
“Let us put our shoulders to the wheel. The next two years will be the years we will have to ensure that we spend more time, we give more of our time to this important sector. Now is the time that we will have to lead the sector. From the Government’s perspective, we’re having the support from Central Government, the leadership from the President.”

Guyana, over the last few years, re-emerged as a leader in agriculture across the Caricom Region, having taken the lead in reducing the high dependency on extra-regional imports by 25 per cent by 2025. Caricom Member States have so far achieved an overall 57 per cent of the target towards Vision 25 by 2025.
The theme for this year’s Agriculture Month is: “Accelerating Vision 25 by 2025: Investing in Agri-Business and Food Security”.
This year’s Agriculture Month calendar of activities will feature several events across the country with the aim of building a greater awareness of the importance of investing in and diversifying the sector.
The main event of the month will be the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo which will be held from October 20 to 22 at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.
The Government has increased the budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector by a 150 per cent increase, moving from $13.3 billion in 2019 to $33.2 billion in 2023. They are also working with the private sector so that a state-of-the-art regional food hub can be created in Guyana.
Guyana has embarked on several initiatives to bridge the production gap which include the diversification from traditional industries, the development of high-yielding, pest-resistant, and climate-resilient crop varieties; and the introduction of improved genetics in livestock.
There have also been several agriculture input support programmes for farmers, such as fertiliser, and seed distribution exercises. Investments have also been made to upgrade infrastructure to support the agriculture sector such as drainage and irrigation structures, farm-to-market access roads, laboratories, and processing facilities.