The Caribbean Agricultural Research Development Institute’s (CARDI) US multimillion-dollar funded stock feed project at Ebini, in Region Ten has been progressing and the agency is set to give a status update very soon.
The planned project, which is located in the country’s Intermediate Savannahs, would see the cultivation of several crops, including rice and corn, which will be processed and used as animal feed locally, with the intention of later catering for the livestock needs of other CARICOM countries, particularly Trinidad and Tobago.
“The project is moving along and we will soon be making an announcement through CARDI in Guyana,” Morris Wilson, Coordinator of the 5,000-acre agriculture and agro- processing project at Ebini, told Stabroek News via telephone yesterday.
Wilson did not give any details on the progress but promised that an announcement from the agency should be made “soon.”
Through the Ministry of Agriculture, CARDI was able to broker the agreement, this publication was told. Guyana, Wilson said, was chosen over other CARICOM nations, because of the availability of land.
CARDI is also mulling rearing primarily small ruminants, such as sheep and goats, at the location but Wilson was previously quick to point out that it was not “necessarily only confined to small ruminants” as its team here in Guyana will advise on the way forward.
“Inasmuch as I am saying this, much of what we have to do is based on direct on the ground management by the management team looking at this project. So, if for instance if the project management teams says plant 500 acres of corn and 500 acres of soya bean, those decisions I cannot make at this time because it will be based on the management on the ground,” he had noted.
There has been no official word from government on the project, but since taking office in 2015, the David Granger led administration has been emphasising the potential of the Intermediate Savannahs for investments in agriculture and agro-processing.
CARDI had submitted a proposal to government for 15,000 acres of land but is starting the project with 5,000 acres, the success of which will determine the release of additional acreage.
Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) Trevor Benn had explained last year that 5,000 acres had already been approved by his agency to CARDI and it was up to the agency to commence the project.
Wilson had said that when the investment is obtained, CARDI envisages a long-term full-scale coconut plantation, where harvests would be pro-cessed on location, alongside other cultivations.
He said that CARDI is hoping to have the 5,000 acres occupied within the first five years, as it knows that based on what Benn has indicated, getting additional acreage is tied to its initial success.
“I am aware that in other areas, lots of land has been allocated but not even 20% utilised and this is a disappointment expressed by the Lands and Surveys. So, they are anxious that we do well with the 5,000 acres given to us,” he had pointed out.
Wilson underscored the need for both agriculture production and processing, while saying that CARDI hopes to transfer the knowledge it has in both areas.
“At CARDI, we are basically transferring our technology that we have been generating over the years to a production initiative…The same as other governments in the region, the Guyana government wants us to transfer the technology into production and this is the background to this initiative,” he noted.
