A three-day agri-business workshop which opened on Tuesday is part of the administration’s focus on tapping opportunities for products and buyers from Trinidad are to work with Region One farmers to boost exports.
According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), the workshop at the Guyana School of Agriculture, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, targeted more than 100 participants with representatives from agencies within the Ministry of Agriculture, the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association and the Linden Economic Advancement Programme.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) activity which concludes today also had participants from private sector entities such as Sterling Products, DIDCO Trading Company, Tandy’s Manufacturing and Ricks and Sari Agro Industries.
The workshop was intended to equip participants with technical skills relating to the legal requirements for exporting food products to the United States market. It was also designed to provide an overview of a number of US federal agencies which are responsible for the enforcement of those requirements. In addition it examined the current trends, opportunities and challenges in the US market for fresh agricultural and processed products.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, in addressing the opening ceremony, noted that while Guyana had attained a food security level and food was being exported, there was need to intensify such activities to ensure continued economic and social growth.
It was noted too, GINA reported, that the domestic market cannot support sustenance of agricultural and other industries and the need for production and manufacturing to be more export-driven was highlighted.
Participants were urged to go in this direction to meet the Caribbean’s increasing food demand since the country has the arable land, water and human capacity for the challenge.
Meanwhile, during this year two major projects will get underway with a focus on agricultural diversification and export development and on enhancing the capability of farmers and rural producers, GINA said.
Moreover, the modern $89M storage and packaging centre at Parika, upgrading of the main pack-house at Sophia and the establishment of similar facilities at Charity and Number 43 Village, Corentyne are other activities which are expected to boost exports.
Buyers
And late last month, Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) Chairman Geoffrey Da Silva announced that the corporation’s staff would take five buyers, most of whom were from Trinidad and Tobago, to Region One (Barima/Waini) to work with farming communities as part of its efforts to boost exports.
This, Da Silva pointed out then, was part of GMC’s renewed focus that involved its staff working on the ground with farmers to utilise market opportunities while pushing market-driven production.
In terms of exports of fresh and processed products, GMC in recent years has done work along with other agencies such as the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in advising farmers on crops that are in demand in the Caribbean and elsewhere.
Among the initiatives were the promotion of Bull Nose peppers, with farmers being allocated several acres to cultivate the crop to supply the North American market, as well as other crops such as pumpkin, butternut squash and sugar loaf pineapples.
Meantime, in Region One, a lot of attention has been given to organic production which is also in keeping with the agricultural diversification thrust and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).
