Various issues affecting the non-traditional agricultural sector were raised on Friday when officials of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) met with the Guyana Non-Traditional Exporters Association and relevant stakeholders.
According to a release from the MoA, representatives of the Shipping Association of Guyana and other private sector representatives also attended the meeting at the Boardroom of the MoA. Discussed among the issues were
-Air and sea freight cost;
– Air and sea freight availability;
– Transit times to destinations;
– Processing of documents at the Guyana Revenue Authority;
-Insurance; and
– Access to Caribbean markets.
Nizam Hassan, General Manager of the Guyana Marketing Corporation and Dr. Elizabeth Ramlall, Director, Agricultural Sector Development Unit attended the meeting on the MoA’s behalf.
The shipping association was represented by Ian Danjou of the Shipping Association of Guyana, Glen Khan of Laparkan, Orin Walton of LIAT, Ameer Hassan of Total Logistics, Valdina Andrews of NM Services Ltd and Clayton Charles of Demerara Shipping Co. Ltd.
According to the release, exporters were updated on the Ministry’s programme for Agricultural Diversification and the programme to build a fresh produce packaging facility at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, and procurement of plastic crates to assist in minimizing post-harvest losses at the refrigerated facilities available at the packaging facilities.
RK Sharma, Programme Co-ordinator of the Support for Competitiveness Programme of the Ministry of Tourism, Industry & Commerce also updated the meeting on the Matching Grants Initiative of the Government’s Support for Competitiveness Programme.
Exporters also discussed issues such as the transit times to markets, processing of documents at the Guyana Revenue Authority as well as the issue of Caribbean countries opening their markets to Guyanese exports.
The release stated that the MoA has committed to assisting the Guyana Non-Traditional Agricultural Exporters Association through the Guyana Marketing Corporation and the Agriculture Diversification programme.
The meeting came amid a series of reports in this newspaper on the Grow More Food campaign and attempts by the Ministry of Agriculture to address the complaints raised by farmers in the said reports.