Reducing Guyana & Caricom’s value of food imports by 25% by 2025

Dear Editor,
Endowed with several natural resources (bauxite, gold, diamond, manganese, pristine forest, arable land and an abundance of fresh water, and now oil), Guyana moves to extract these in a sustainable way, and not only for the benefit of Guyana, but also for Caricom. It is within this context that Guyana has taken the regional lead on 3 strategic pillars of the economy: energy, food security, and climate change.
In terms of energy, Guyana — whose manufacturing possibilities were hampered by high energy costs, and whose population has had to endure not only high electricity costs, but also periodic load shedding and blackouts — would soon get important relief from the integrated gas- processing facility at Wales. When the electricity and gas plants become operational, the energy cost to consumers would decline by 50%: from (US$) 22 cents per kwh to (US$) 11 cents per kwh. Though the estimated cost of the project is US$1.9 billion, that works out to just (US$) 4 cents per kwh (covering all capital and operational costs), and the country would save US$100 million annually.
The PPPC government’s record on climate change is second to none. Its detailed plan is captured in the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030. Guyana is Net Zero; thanks to its forest that stores 20 billion tons of CO2, and it also removes 154 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. Guyana joined 139 countries and signed on to the Net Zero emission by 2050. The funds earned through LCDS are being used for climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as for Amerindian land titling and community development (carbon credits). I would expand on energy and climate change in future articles.
The biggest challenge to the three pillars, however, is the country’s ambitious 25×25 Food Security Programme, along with Caricom, to reduce the value of food imported by 25% by the year 2025. Between 2018 and 2020, Caricom – for example – imported in value 60% of its food requirements (in a few countries, it was 80%). Recognizing that this level of imports cannot continue, Caricom has been able to reduce the value of imports by 12% in 2023, compared with 2022. And with respect to fish and seafoods, Caricom has set a goal to reduce imports by 20% (from US$387 to US$309).
To illustrate the progress towards 25×25, Guyana’s Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha provided for Guyana figures that are self-explanatory. The rate of increase is substantial.
The production of brackish water shrimp is projected to increase by 25%: from 958,000kg in 2023 to 1,200,000kg in 2024. A multi-million-dollar project to cultivate prawns is ongoing at Onverwagt, West Berbice. Much work needs to be done in egg production. The expanding corn production would lead to increased egg production. Guyana imports 53 million eggs annually. In 2023, Guyana produced just 27,000 eggs. By August 24, 2024, it produced 97,000 eggs (3.5 times). Minister Mustapha expects that, within a few years, Guyana would become self-sufficient in egg production.
Minister Mustapha is mindful of ‘El Nino’ weather patterns, and has taken measures to mitigate the impact of this phenomenon on production. The Ministry of Agriculture is building Hope-like canals at No 51/52 Villages, and at Lancaster; these canals will offer flood protection for over 360,966 acres of farmland and residential areas as the Government provides incentives and removes obstacles to growth.
The Government is granting duty-free concessions for the importation of machinery and agricultural inputs; has upgraded farm-to-market roads, and is constructing several highways to benefit all Guyanese, including farmers; has restored the drainage-irrigation charges and land rentals which the APNU+AFC government increased by more than 4 times (from G$3,500 to $15,000) to the original level of $3,500; and is implementing new methods of agriculture husbandry, like hydroponic and shade houses.
President Dr Irfaan Ali takes more than a personal interest in agriculture expansion and diversification. To achieve the target of 25% reduction of imports by 2025, a special Ministerial Task Force on Food Production and Food Security (MTF) has been established to guide the implementation of VISION 25 by 2025. Ministers of Agriculture in Caricom meet monthly to evaluate the situation. For 2023, the value of food imports was reduced by 12% in Caricom, compared with 2022. Minister Mustapha has expressed optimism that Guyana and Caricom would attain the objectives of 25% reduction by 2025. And Guyana would never catch the Dutch disease.

Sincerely,
Tara Singh