President Irfaan Ali says that Guyana plans to work with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to develop a technology-driven regional food hub.
The Head of State, who received an award from IICA for his Leadership in Food Security and Sus-tainable Development on Tuesday night at a special ceremony in San Jose, Costa Rica said that the region must build an alliance around food security, a release from the Office of the President said.
To ensure this happens quickly, the President said, “We are going to be working with IICA on the establishment of a regional food hub, with the right technology, applying the right phytosanitary standards, so that the products that come through the regional food hub will have all the standards for all the countries”.
Guyana and Barbados are meant to be helming a food terminal in Bridge-town but there are concerns that this project has not taken off.
The President added that proper farming practices and soil management are key to maintaining the optimal nutritional values of food, which can lead to long-term sustainability in the region.
“In the region, we are proposing to establish a state-of-the-art innovation centre, agri investment and innovation centre, that will bring the best of technology, the best of knowledge, the best of leadership, and, importantly, to build this digitisation around this innovation centre”, he said.
The centre, the President explained, can be used to involve every segment of the region’s population in the food production chain and will also allow for applicable technology to drive innovation and business models.
On Tuesday, the President also had talks with IICA directors on converting the Guyana School of Agriculture into a regional institution with the IICA brand.
President Ali also stressed the need for the region to involve more women and youth in agriculture. He explained that Guyana has set itself a target of having 35% of all new agricultural production projects owned by women and youth.
“And here is where the technology, the innovation, and building in the entrepreneurship aspect of agriculture and food production will help us to achieve this target. It is very important that we ensure women and young people are brought along this journey of food production and agriculture”, he said, according to the release.
