Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha and Minister of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce, Onedige Walrond took a significant step towards harnessing Guyana’s agritourism potential with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier today. The agreement seeks to further develop the nation’s agritourism policy which involves, for example, getting visitors to tour the country’s most awe-inspiring agricultural activities and spaces.
During the signing ceremony, Minister Mustapha was keen to note that the MoU establishes a shared ambition between the two ministries to implement and develop the said policy.
Expounding on the genesis of the MoU, the Minister shared that it stems from a recommendation that was made during last year’s Agritourism Week while adding that one of its key objectives is to create an enabling environment for agritourism operators.
As regards the industry’s importance, Minister Mustapha intimated that agritourism acts as a mechanism for diversification and income generation for farmers. This he said would be achieved through on-farm activities that would help to maintain the viability of farms and rural communities.
Minister Mustapha also expressed thanks to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for its role in assisting with the process.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce was keen to note that if managed sustainably, both agriculture and tourism products can exist for a long time.
In this regard, she said, “The agriculture and tourism sectors are of strategic importance to Guyana’s development. Managed sustainably, both our agriculture and tourism products can be with us long after the last barrel of oil is extracted. It is, therefore, incumbent on us today to use the opportunity provided by the petroleum bounty to build the foundation of a diversified economy that will persist when that bounty at whatever time must be inevitably exhausted.”
Country Representative for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Mr. Wilmot Garnett also expressed similar sentiments while noting that for the agri-tourism sector to move forward, partnerships and alliances must be built at both the public and private sector levels. He said the objective of this must be to strengthen the policy and institutional framework, in support of increasing agri-tourism trade linkages and rural tourism development.
In this regard, IICA since 2002 had a focused programme on agri-tourism in the Caribbean Region, as part of a larger hemispheric plan in Latin America and the Caribbean. Garnett noted in this respect that the Institute has been working to strengthen the capacities, the institutions, the policies, and the planning processes necessary to better manage the market value chains, on which the sector depends, and to respond to environmental changes within the sector.
Since taking office, the government has signaled its intention to develop Guyana’s agri-tourism industry. Farmers across the country are therefore being encouraged to capitalize on the benefits of this sector as an additional source of revenue and an overall boost to the country’s economy.
