laden with fruit in Region One
The Agriculture Ministry is in consultation with the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN) and the European Union (EU), with the primary objective of expanding Guyana’s export base. Guyana is seeking to strike a deal to secure a market for the exportation of sweet potatoes, and the ministry is in the process of transforming the agriculture sector to meet the demands of the global market.
Kitchen gardens
Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy said when the “Grow More Food” campaign was launched in 2008 by former Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, major emphasis was placed on the promotion of kitchen gardens to cushion the impact of high food prices. Now, some five years after, the country is analysing the prospects of increasing its export base.
However, this move, which is deemed “a step in the right direction”, comes with many challenges, Minister Ramsammy said during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times International. He explained that while Guyana has the ability to grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, large-scale farmers are not consistent in their production and in other cases, various types of food produced are not in demand regionally and internationally.
“Our culture is that we believe that we grow good food and other people should want to eat it, the truth is that the squash we grow in Guyana, only Guyanese like it, other people don’t want to eat our squash,” Minister Ramsammy said, as he illustrated the situation on the ground.
Consistent production
Through an ongoing education programme, the Agriculture Ministry is equipping farmers with the requisite knowledge and skills and even the materials needed to be consistent in their production.
In June, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) announced its intention to financially support Guyana’s agricultural diversification and export drive to the tune of £1.3 million (approximately Gy$400 million).
Diversification
Guyana’s Agriculture Diversification Programme (GADP) is designed to increase exports of tilapia from 1000 kilograms (kgs) to 1200kg a week and non-traditional produce, such as sweet bell pepper, hot pepper and butternut squash from 1000kg to 1600kg weekly.
Additionally, the Agriculture Ministry is working closely with the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) to produce the “Rain Forest Line of Agricultural Products”. GSA is also in the process of compiling production guides to assist the local farming community, as it turns to non-traditional crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, scotch bonnet pepper, and butternut squash.
The “Grow More Food” campaign was launched on March 20, 2008 through the implementation of a five-step plan, which included the implementation of a US$21.9 million Agricultural Export Diversification Programme, the implementation of a US$6 million Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Development Programme, increased investment in drainage and irrigation by restoring drainage to areas abandoned by farmers, and training farmers to manage the maintenance of rehabilitated structures at a cost of Gy$12 billion.
Rural farmers, agro investors, processors, exporters, and all those involved in the value chain have benefitted from the investments made by the government over the past five years to boost food production and attain a lucrative means of earning a livelihood.
Guyana is the only country in the southern hemisphere that is a net exporter of food, and has achieved the United Nations first Millennium Development Goal of eradicating hunger.
