President Ali lauds farmers’ embrace of technology as hydroponics advances

President Dr Irfaan Ali, on Sunday via his Facebook page, commended local farmers for embracing new opportunities in agriculture, noting their increasing use of modern technology and crop diversification to boost food production.

“Our farmers have been taking full advantage of opportunities to diversify their crops and maximise the use of technology and smart farming techniques,” the Head of State said in his post. He highlighted hydroponics, the soil-free cultivation method, as one such innovation now being used locally to grow lettuce, a high-value crop. Hydroponics is the cultivation of plants in nutrient-enriched water, with or without the mechanical support of an inert medium such as sand, gravel, or perlite. It has been steadily gaining ground in Guyana as part of wider efforts to strengthen food security and position the country as a regional leader in agricultural transformation. In 2023, the National Agricultural and Research Extension Institute (NAREI), in partnership with private company Victoria Greens, launched a large-scale hydroponics project aimed at supplying local and regional markets. That facility, which incorporates talents from the Government’s Agriculture Innovative and Entrepreneurship Programme (AIEP), has the capacity to produce 100,000 crops at a time. It currently grows multiple varieties of lettuce, pak choi, and some 15 high-value herbs such as basil, thyme, and mustard, much of which is targeted at Guyana’s restaurants and hotels.

During a tour of the farm in 2023, President Ali emphasised that the venture represents more than just domestic supply. “The intention of this facility is to build additional facilities like this one to meet the entire Caribbean needs for these crops … [we could] export from here and then the next phase is to do the modern aquaculture tanks,” he said at the time. The hydroponics system employs a nutrient film technique, where crops absorb nutrients through a water-based solution, eliminating the need for traditional fertilisers. The controlled environment also keeps the crops pest-free, making them 100 per cent organic. These developments tie into CARICOM’s “25 by 2025” initiative, which seeks to cut the region’s more than US$5 billion annual food import bill by a quarter within the next year. With Guyana leading the charge, President Ali has repeatedly underscored the role of technology-driven farming in achieving that target. His latest remarks, coupled with ongoing projects such as Victoria Greens, reaffirm the Government’s push to make smart farming central to Guyana’s future food security.