Dear Editor,

First, I wish to thank Ms Gaskin for the clarification she provided on the inaccurate data submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture that was inadvertently published by the Bank of Guyana in her letter captioned, ‘Agricultural production, especially other crops, is not declining,’ (SN, December 20). This mistake by the Ministry of Agriculture has consequences for the use of the GDP figures prepared by the Ministry of Finance, Parliament, donor and lending agencies. Noting, however, that corrective action is being taken, this is indeed a good first step by the ministry.

Second, if the new data and Ms Gaskin’s updated analysis are accurate, indicating that total agriculture output has been increasing, while at the same time total agriculture financing by the commercial banks has been declining (‘Banks to re-examine agricultural investment policies’ SN, December 8), then there seems to be a significant incongruity. For if this outcome is true (increasing output and deceasing financing), then maximizing agriculture output would require no financing at all. Unless farmers are financing their inputs and capital investments from their income and wealth; or they have access to other institutional credit; or access to government handouts, as was the recent case of $400 million for rice farmers; or there were significant credit activities by private moneylenders. The Ministry of Agriculture may wish to clarify this conundrum, as the relative changes in output and financing do not add up.

Third, Ms Gaskin made mention of Go-Invest identifying approximately US$75 million in agriculture investments by the private sector over the last three years that created approximately 1, 395 new jobs. This information seems to suggest that on average some $5 billion dollars in investments were made annually at an average cost of $3.6 million per new job in agriculture. Here  again, I ask the Ministry of Agriculture to clarify this information, especially with respect to which agriculture activities have been demanding these levels of investment. Besides, the cost per new job seems relatively high.

Finally, Ms Gaskin mentioned that an additional 80,900 acres had been made available for agriculture production. Could she say what additional crops are being cultivated and how the on-farm infrastructure, farm equipment and farm inputs are being financed, for financing 80,900 acres is a significant investment that small farmers will be hard pressed to find.

Yours faithfully,
C Kenrick Hunte