The Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) has disclosed that 4.4 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables were exported last year.
The lead agency for the promotion of Guyana’s non-traditional agro-sector stated in a press release last Saturday that the measures put in place by the Ministry of Agriculture through the GMC are having positive effects on the development of the sector and the increase in non-traditional agro-exports is evidence of this.
According to General Manager of GMC Nizam Hassan, the fact that 2,001 tonnes consisted of fresh fruits and vegetables out of the 7,394 tonnes of recorded increase in exports for 2007 illustrates that Guyana is on its way to becoming the top supplier of food to CARICOM.
Meanwhile, several agro-business inves-tors, including representatives from Trinidad and Barbados, visited several farming communities in Guyana recently to explore business opportunities in the non-traditional crops sector. Additionally, the press release noted, GMC’s efforts to further develop the sector resulted in the Central Packaging Facility at the Sophia Exhibition Complex being rehabilitated at a cost of $16M. And other similar facilities at Parika, Charity and Number 43 Village, Corentyne, Berbice will be operational soon, the release added.
Frank Lam, Agri-business Specialist attached to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), as well as a team of Barbadian agriculture officials who visited Guyana in January have lauded GMC’s efforts to further develop the sector, the release said.
