Food processing industry to boom in seven years

…as Guyana looks to capitalise on high food import bill

Guyana’s food processing industry is expected to undergo major development in the next seven years, as Government looks to capitalise on the food import bill of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

The advancement of the industry would see Guyana being able to produce and export canned foods, such as sausages, corned beef, corn and a host of other food items used daily. In addition, it is expected that the milk processing industry would be clearly defined and subtract from the high milk import bill for Guyana.

Presently, Caricom is home to approximately 16 million inhabitants in its 15 member states and has an annual food import bill of more than US$4 billion which is equivalent to G$800 billion.

 100 per cent food security

According to a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation study, with the exception of Guyana, Belize, and St Kitts and Nevis in the English-speaking Caribbean, no country has the required land space to achieve 100 per cent food security.

These figures alone should be strong reasons for Caricom Governments to swiftly involve the private sector and financial institutions in acting to reduce the enormous food import bill. Experts have sounded alarms repeatedly that failure to deal with the issue is harming Caribbean economies and increasing their vulnerability to prices and supply from external providers.

Guyana’s own Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy said the Government is heeding those warnings. He said the Government would be taking elaborate steps towards the modernisation of the food processing industry.

He said this would be done in conjunction with several other projects that would see a radical decline in Guyana’s overall import bill and would also see Guyana earning revenue as it capitalises on the extremely high Caricom food import bill.

It was noted that the Government hopes to have a large-scale dairy industry, with at least one dairy plant being operationalised, by 2020, which would not only reduce milk importation but also produce a host of other by-products.

Other targets include a 50 per cent reduction in the import of commodities such as carrots, commercial production of potatoes, a 50 per cent increase in agro-processed  production.

Plans are also set to see a 25 per cent increase in non-sugar, non-rice exports, and at least 50,000 litres of bio-fuel on a commercial scale, a five per cent increase in cultivation areas by small farmers. Presently, agriculture contributes almost 20 per cent to Guyana’s economy and accounts for more than 33 per cent of employment. Almost 40 per cent of Guyana’s export earnings come from agriculture, with only an average of about 11 per cent of the national budget estimates going to the sector.