Govt to co-invest with farmers to expand meat production in Reg ion 5 – Pres Ali

…High-yielding sheep, new lands to help position region as livestock capital

With the aim of positioning Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) as the livestock capital in Guyana, President Dr Irfaan Ali has outlined a slew of initiatives geared towards supporting farmers in expanding their production capacity. The Head of State made these announcements on Friday while addressing farmers as well as fisherfolks at Region Five.
According to President Ali, Guyana has earned tremendous global accolades in agriculture and food production over the last four years and the aim over the next five years would be to set the country as the Caribbean’s food production capital in every category.

When it comes to the livestock industry, Guyana is currently self-sufficient in table eggs and poultry. But the Guyanese Leader noted that he wants Guyana to be able to produce hatching eggs here as well as expand poultry production to build local export capacity.
“But not only expanding poultry production but ensuring that we build the mechanism through which the input costs will be reduced. That is why we’re investing in our own feed mill, and also investing in having the input for the production of the feed.”
“So, we want to be able to have a livestock industry that is fully diversified. And we want Region Five to be the capital of our livestock industry,” the President noted.
To this end, Ali outlined some specific initiatives that would be undertaken by his administration to expand the local livestock industry. Key among these is forging partnerships with livestock farmers.
“One of the challenges for farmers is to find capital at good interest rates sometimes. So, what we’re planning to do is to create a special development fund and an investment vehicle through which the Government will co-invest with our farmers in building medium and mega-scale farms.”

According to the Head of State, the initiative will target farmers across various communities in the region, grouping them together to provide access to financial facilities and equip them with resources such as machinery. The aim is to enable them to take charge of critical services, including drainage and irrigation.

Blackbelly sheep expansion
Speaking directly to sheep farmers, President Ali informed them that Government will be working with them in coming months to not only have the blackbelly programme expanded but to also create new areas for feed stocks as well as for pastures and grazing, among other things.
“For our sheep farmers, everybody can’t do the same thing and we don’t want everyone to be double dipping. So, what we want to create is, if we have 500 sheep farmers, we want to give them at least 10 sheep that are impregnated – high yielding, high breeding – so that you can expand your current flock and make this region a real sheep capital …in terms of mutton production. So, that’s one of the initiatives that we’ll be implementing in [the coming] months, not years,” the Head of State stressed.
He went onto note that a similar approach would be taken for farmers engaged in swine production to expand their output.

Opening up of new lands
Key to all of these initiatives, however, is the new Hope-like Canal project in Region Five – an investment of about $18.4 billion. Also known as high level canals, this facility will be built to drain excess water from the land especially where farms are located to avoid flooding.
“This investment is not only important because it will help you with drainage and irrigation but this investment is important because it would open up more than 56,000 acres of new land – new land to go into agriculture production, new land to be allocated, and that is what we want to do,” President Ali told the Region Five farmers during Friday’s public meeting.
In fact, he noted that Government will be engaging farmers so that together, they can come up with a mechanism on not only the allocation of these new lands but how to divide the 56,000 acres into specific agricultural activities such as farming, livestock rearing and pasture lands. These factors, he added, would be key in building out the necessary infrastructure to support what is planned out.
“So, in the sheep production, we’re moving to stage where we’re not going to identify 10 farmers or 12 farmers. We want to identify all the farmers in sheep production and work with each of you directly. Transferring [assets] directly to you in the coming months. And the same thing for swine production, the same thing for those who want to go into eggs, and then we have the black giants programme.”
So, in livestock, we have tremendous opportunities and a plan that will enable every single farmer to benefit directly,” the Guyanese Leader posited.
According to President Ali, these are all part of a wider effort by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government to build an agriculture sector that is dynamic, resilient, sustainable and one that gives the people of Region Five, especially farmers, the best prospect of profitability and of being successful in their ventures.