IICA to enable reengineering of NAREI, new technologies in Guyana’s agri sector

…rural farmers to be trained

Guyana will be supported by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to introduce technology in the agriculture sector, and training for persons in rural areas to use such innovative solutions.

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha made an official visit to IICA headquarters in San José, Costa Rica, where he met IICA Director General, Manuel Otero to discuss the Caribbean nation’s action plans, priorities, and agricultural challenges and to advance the dialogue on the main advances of Guyanese agriculture and new opportunities for technical cooperation.
Mustapha, who is also chair of the Ministerial Work Group established by Caricom to analyse the food agenda and the agri-food system in the Caribbean, spoke about the reality of the agriculture sector in his country – a strategic nation with a great capacity to become the food basket of the region.
He explained that Guyana’s priorities are to reduce food import costs by 25 per cent in three years, diversify production and increase resilience to climate change, focusing on corn, soy, and wheat crops; boost intra-regional trade by removing barriers that impact the country; harmonise standards; and foster more science, innovation, and technological development, boosting the institutional framework in these areas.
“We must look for ways to reduce the food import bill by 25 per cent in the next three years; this is a monumental task, and we are going to need investments and a lot of capital, but we have the capacity. We want to diversify our economy, make it more resilient so that small-sized farmers are part of this development that we seek.”
“We have the land, the water, and the capital, we can produce the corn and soy that we need for the Caribbean and for Guyana itself, which can become the centre of food production, reduce its import costs, and have a resilient productive sector,” he added.
During the meeting, Mustapha spoke about other issues the country is focusing on: work in logistics and food transport, infrastructure, agricultural extension, attracting young people to agriculture, and boosting the meat, poultry and aquaculture industries, and rice and sugar chains.
As a result, the IICA Director General committed to providing technical cooperation to Guyana for re-engineering and strengthening the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), connecting science with innovation and promoting entrepreneurialism, training young rural people in the use of new technologies for agriculture and acting as a bridge in bilateral dialogues and in south-south cooperation actions.
“We wish to continue building an increasingly stronger technical cooperation agenda,” concluded Otero.
Guyana has also guaranteed support for the continental alliance proposed to address growing threats to food security in the hemisphere. The Agriculture Minister described the proposal as innovative in bringing countries together, working as a team, and collaborating with food security in the region.
Commenting on the plan, he relayed, “We in Guyana will support the continental alliance and contribute to the Director General’s vision. We have to work together to achieve food security. The interest they have shown in food security not only in the Caribbean but in the whole world is to be applauded. IICA has been highly proactive in helping the agricultural sector to progress.”
Mustapha described the alliance as an “innovative way of uniting the countries and working together to ensure that we address food security,” which has been aggravated by a current context of overlapping crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Eastern Europe and climate change.
The alliance proposed by IICA for collective action to combat food insecurity, promote sustainability, and guarantee peace and democratic stability, has as its roadmap a document with concrete proposals that was also submitted at the Summit of the Americas last week in Los Angeles, USA.
This medium- and long-term work is based on four strategic aspects: the strengthening and transformation of agri-food systems in the Americas, challenges, and opportunities for agri-food trade in the region in the new geopolitical context, the role of science, technology, and innovation, and facilitating economic and social inclusion by reinforcing the cooperative system.
“This alliance should promote a new generation of public policies that empower family farmers, who are essential, with new extension strategies, giving greater importance to questions of associative and cooperative. It also seeks to foster science and technology and increase trade and integration. A new alliance is needed between production and the environment,” said Manuel Otero.
“It is necessary to act now to generate an effective coalition to promote food security in our continent, transforming threats into opportunities and generating a set of concrete actions. It is time to come together; no country can get through this crisis alone. Food security must be combated with concrete actions in the short and medium-term,” Otero added.