Experience
As a country with a strong agricultural focus and capacity, Guyana should be making every effort to develop its agro-processing industry. The country already has experience with producing a wide variety of products that bring together local technology and locally produced vegetables, fruits, grain, and animals. While the product range is not as wide as in more advanced countries, it is broad enough to capture the interests of a large number of farmers and entrepreneurs. As examples, Guyanese have been producing pepper sauce, cassava starch, guava cheese, and guava jam ingredients for black cake for many years. The country produced ham, bacon, rice flour, rice-based cereals and confectionaries. The agro-processing industry has always been seen as the basis on which Guyana could become the breadbasket of the Caribbean and help itself and the region to achieve food security.
Relevance
This position existed several decades ago when the national policy of “Feeding, Clothing and Housing” the nation was in place under the PNC government. The relevance of this position was acknowledged recently by the