By Pushpa Balgobin
in Paramaribo, Suriname
Permanent Secretary in Suriname’s Agriculture Ministry Gerrit Breinburg says that the country has a five-year framework in place to become the regional breadbasket but later clarified that Guyana will also be a key player.
Breadbasket to the Caribbean has typically been a title associated with Guyana but critics have said it has underperformed over decades.
Breinburg was speaking during a press briefing at the ministry headquarters in Paramaribo, Suriname on Tuesday for Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA), hosted by the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Co-operation (CTA).
When contacted on the Surinamese official’s statement, Guyana’s Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy told Stabroek News that Guyana “is the country that can lead the supply of food for the Caribbean”. The minister noted that “presently we can meet all the rice demand. We are working on supplying corn and soya.”
Ramsammy noted that comprehensive strategies were also being worked on to meet fruit and vegetable demands across the board, “no country has a better chance of meeting the meat demand etcetera.”
Guyana’s agriculture minister stated that several countries across the region would play a key role and that the food demand