Onverwagt abattoir nears opening, small butchers to pay $3000

The state-of-the-art abattoir at Onverwagt, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), is expected to open to the public within weeks, with small butchers paying no more than $3000 to slaughter animals, as final testing continues ahead of commissioning. Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha made the disclosure on Saturday during a visit to the facility, where test runs are already underway using live animals to assess systems, workflows and food-safety protocols. According to the Minister, the abattoir has an initial slaughtering capacity of between 30 and 35 animals per day, with plans already in place to significantly expand operations.
“As you stand here, you see that we have a number of animals here. Now they are doing some test runs. The capacity of this abattoir is between 30 and 35 animals per day,” Mustapha told members of the media. He said the facility, which is fully mechanised from start to finish, has been designed to meet international food-safety standards and to raise the quality of meat processing in Guyana. All stages of slaughtering and processing will be handled mechanically, allowing for special cuts, improved hygiene and consistent quality control. Mustapha noted that the abattoir is intended to serve both large and small butchers, with particular attention being paid to affordability for smaller operators who previously faced challenges accessing modern slaughtering facilities. “We have these small butchers. We’ll be taking a very nominal fee from them…not more than $3,000,” the Minister said, adding that the facility would be open to the public once commissioned. He explained that the abattoir was completed in terms of construction in 2024, but commissioning was deliberately delayed to allow for extensive testing and staff training. The approach, he said, was necessary to avoid technical problems after opening, given that the facility is directly involved in food production. “I don’t want any issues to arise after we have commissioned it. We are continuing testing and within two weeks, the President will commission this, and then it will open for the public,” Mustapha said. The project is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in partnership with the Guyana Government and the Minister said it meets all international food-safety and sanitary requirements. Staff have already been hired and are undergoing training to ensure compliance with those standards.
Beyond the initial phase, Mustapha disclosed that President Dr Irfaan Ali has already instructed that the abattoir’s capacity be expanded. Plans are being examined to increase daily slaughtering to as many as 100 animals by the end of this year or early next year. “To expand the capacity, we will expand the holding facility and the slaughtering system. Instead of one slaughtering line, we might have two or three operating simultaneously,” he said, explaining that such an upgrade would allow multiple animals to be processed at the same time. Once expanded, the facility is expected to play a central role in improving meat quality, enforcing national standards and supporting livestock farmers and butchers across multiple regions, while positioning Guyana to strengthen its food-safety framework as the agriculture sector continues to modernise.