Aside from contributing to the overall CARICOM aim of reducing food imports by 25 per cent by 2025, Guyana has a number of internal initiatives planned as it has set the same internal target which it hopes to attain through initiatives such as agricultural expansion, modern farming initiatives, while ramping up the production of high value crops and building the infrastructure for easier transport of crops, President Irfaan Ali says.
“In Guyana, we have every area and what is targeted by 2025. So you will see ramping up in production in some areas between 25 per cent [and] 100 per cent. You will see some areas from just about 3 per cent to 75 per cent …,” the President remarked at a news conference on Sunday as he held a report on food security.
Ali said that his government has been undertaking “backward and forward” analyses of consumption and demand data and has a plan that will maximise agricultural development of the arable lands available here, even as itbuilds the infrastructure for easy access and transport.
Given the volatility of oil prices and unpredictability of global events, such as the COVID 19-pandemic, which affects food costs and security, Ali noted that it was imperative that this country and by extension the region, have a food security action plan.
In Guyana, government has already set aside some $5 billion for cost adjustment. “There are a number of things we are doing in Guyana. One is that we set aside $5 billion for cost adjustment.”
And as it pertains to purchasing and having access to fertilizer for crops, he offered, “We have to find a way, in terms of economies of scale.”
The president pointed to the Demerara River which does not allow for heavy cargo and as such, instead of a vessel being able to bring one shipment of 130,000 tonnes of fertilizer at a time, it could only bring 7000 tonnes. “We have an added problem with transportation,” he acknowledged.
“We are working on a strategy on how we support initiatives of the input level and then the consumer level and then the market level… if we increase production we affect demand,” he explained.
The types of crops and how they are planted and reaped is another area being assessed and worked on. Ali referred to the government’s shade house project, which helps farmers grow produce such as bell peppers, broccoli and other imported produce. “We have to look at high value crops. By the time we get to the end of this year, we should have about more than 100 shade houses in the facility at Mon Repos.”
He added, “The days when you required 100 acres of land to produce are gone. You can produce what you produce in two acres in two shade houses so this is the new shift.”
Using tomatoes as an example, Ali noted that traditionally, one acre yielded 30 tonnes of tomatoes but “using science and technology, a quarter of an acre of land can now produce 20,000 tonnes” using “vertical agriculture, using the modern ways of growing high value crops.”
He said that in those ways, “It helps against resilience, against climate and climate related activities. It is also a rethink on the strategy in achieving the plans.”
But the President pointed out that getting farmers to shift to modern farming requires a lot of training at the level of communities and farmers and that is part of the programme that the government is advancing.
Turning to poultry rearing, he noted that since a large percentage of monies in the sector goes towards purchasing of corn and soya, Guyana plans to invest in agriculture initiatives that will see this country self-sufficient.
Already, government has budgeted some $887 million for infrastructure needed to support the large-scale cultivation of corn and soya bean by private investors in order to safeguard the country’s livestock feed supply.
A further $426 million will be spent to complete the rehabilitation of 47 kilometers of a vital Ituni to Tacama farm-to-market road, starting from the junction of the Linden/Ituni road and heading east towards the Berbice River. Last year, some $102 million was spent to commence rehabilitation works on the road.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni in his remarks on this subject had stated, “This initiative sets the stage for large scale cultivation of corn and soya bean and related agro business development in the Tacama area… and will open up approximately 61,000 hectares of prime farmland in the Tacama, Wiruni, and Ebini Savannahs on the eastern side of the Berbice River.”
Singh explained that with the local poultry industry consuming approximately 113,000 tonnes of feed annually, the rising freight costs and supply chain challenges has pushed them to eliminate their vulnerability.
“Anticipated increases in demand for poultry and other livestock as our economy grows and the demand for food supplies expand, led to a strategic decision by government in 2021 to support the local private sector in a trial cultivation of approximately 200 acres of corn and soya bean.”
With the success of the first trial last year, the private sector is set to increase production for a commercial trial to cultivate 2,700 acres.
Another initiative puts not only more milk available on the local markets but gives single mothers the opportunity to earn everyday as government plans to invest in milking cows to get them started into supplying milk processing facilities.
A special breed of cows, Ali said, will be bought by government and imported into the country.
Guyana’s annual milk import bill for 2019 is estimated to be around US$40 million.
“So, while we will have the mainstream farmers, I’m looking at the East Bank corridor in which we can get single parents, for example single mothers, and they can have two cows. Now, if you do that throughout, you’ll be able to produce the milk and you’ll have milking stations, this is how they do it in many of the countries that have a strong dairy industry and they have milking stations where the milk goes to the station,” Ali said
“You are talking about a family earning between $5,000 [and] $7,000 a day. Here the government will be catalyzing by investing in the capital, bringing in the breed of animal, and getting people involved. That is part of the holistic plan,” he added.
