If Guyana is to steer clear of the deadly clutches of the resource curse, it must take a serious approach to the efficient development of its agriculture sector. This is according to Associate Professor, Dr. Terrence R. Blackman.
During a recent radio interview, the Diaspora member said that the economic challenge confronting Guyana is not to have one horse in the race for its future prosperity. In other words, Guyana cannot afford to place all of its hopes and dreams on the oil sector. Dr. Blackman said one only ought to pay attention to the wave of negative effects the COVID-19 pandemic had last year in particular on the world’s oil-producing States.
With this in mind, he posited that the safest bet would be driving investments in the agriculture sector. Pointing to one key opportunity for Guyana in this regard, Dr. Blackman noted that the Caribbean is known for being one of the most food-insecure regions. He noted that the Food Import Bill for the region hovers around US$4B.
The Associate Professor said, “Think about this for a moment, what are we buying with US$4 billion? We are buying wheat, rice, chicken, non-alcoholic beverages juices, maize, soybean, sugar, palm oil. Imagine if Guyana were responsible for just 10% of that US$4 billion budget. That’s US$400 million. So there is where I think Guyana ought to focus in moving to diversify.”
He said too, “Given questions of climate change, and renewable energy, I think the best we have to make is agriculture. I think if we can do agriculture right, then I think we can beat the resource curse.”
Should Guyana opt to do otherwise and think of itself as simply flourishing on oil, a nonrenewable resource, for the next few decades, the Associate Professor warned that the economic prospects for the new producer would be plagued by troubles.
