The Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) was officially launched yesterday and farmers expressed hope that the body will resuscitate aspects of the industry here.
The body is expected to make the sector more competitive, the Ministry of Agriculture noted, and the semi-autonomous agency was set up with a mandate to promote greater efficiency in the industry while providing enhanced service in livestock husbandry, health and research. The body is also expected to establish regulations for trade, commerce and export of livestock and livestock products.
Speaking at the official ceremony yesterday at the GLDA, Head office at Mon Repos, chairman of the body, Patrick deGroot briefly told the gathering that the body will generate livestock systems, develop marketing strategies and training programmes on a continual basis. He said that the board, management and staff of the GLDA will ensure that persons within the industry see a vast improvement in the extension services provided. These will in effect bring about an increase in production of quality livestock, De Groot added.
Eric Anderson of the Guyana Pig Producers Association (GPPA) noted that for the industry to develop, it needed to be competitive. He said the industry experiences a number of constraints, including the unavailability of quality breeding animals, technology and limited market opportunities.
Not stable
Anderson stated that at the moment the pig market is not stable and he noted that there are two factors which are contributing to this. He said that the fluctuating price for pork remains a bugbear and he posited that with the availability of technology and markets, the issue can be adequately addressed in a beneficial manner to the farmer.
He said that the other factor contributing to the instability of the market is that farmers are not organised. However, Anderson stated that the formation of the GLDA will see the industry being in a better position to move forward.
Anderson said too that the GPPA was in dire need of resuscitation and he expressed hope that the regulatory body will be able to address the issue soon.
Another farmer, Roopnarine Matadial, of the Central Corentyne Cattle Farmers Association and who is a member of the board of directors of the GLDA, said that the body had been “the missing link” for quite sometime where the livestock industry is concerned. He said that he has been part of the livestock industry for some 20 odd years.
Matadial stated that the formation of the GLDA brings much awaited relief to the industry, especially cattle farmers. According to him a number of “obstacles” exist within the industry, including poor management, lack of markets, lack of improved breeds and cattle rustling. He said that the GLDA has already set systems in motion to address a few of the aforementioned issues, noting that field officers are already in the fields carrying out their work. Matadial expressed confidence that the industry will be developed to address the concerns of farmers, many of whom, he noted, were not sure of what the future for the industry holds. The cattle farmer noted that “the biggest obstacle” affecting the industry today is cattle rustling, an issue which he noted, had not been addressed adequately in the past. He said that the police appeared not to have been doing much to apprehend cattle rustlers, adding that, “it’s no use farmers rear the animals and wake up next morning and see the best animals missing.” Matadial noted that “something needed to be done” to curb cattle rustling and he expressed hope that the act will be adequately addressed by the GLDA.
CEO of the GLDA Dindyal Permaul noted that the GLDA has several stages to undergo in terms of its own mandate to steer the industry in the right direction.
He said that the new body will be working on several areas including the crafting and implementation of relevant regulations. He reiterated that the body has begun to realise, “that a lot of work is left to be done.” Permaul stated that the body can also take a page out of the book of the Guyana Rice Producers Association, noting that the latter body had been at the helm of the rice industry for close to a century and has progressed rapidly towards the development of it.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the need for the establishment of the GLDA arose when the Government of Guyana via the MoA acquired a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank – Agricultural Export and Development Diversification Programme for the purposes of increasing Guyana’s exports and reducing its volatility.
