By Sueann Wickham
Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, took the stage as the keynote speaker on Tuesday at the inaugural Agriculture Symposium organized by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), where he noted the importance of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to advance Guyana’s agriculture sector.
The event, held under the theme ‘Exploring Opportunities in Agriculture through Innovation and Collaboration,’ aimed to enlighten participants on the pivotal role of PPP in advancing the agricultural sector and identifying areas for enhancement.
Minister Mustapha also stressed the importance of both public and private investments in the expansion of Guyana’s agriculture sector. He elaborated on the government’s commitment to reconfiguring policies within the sector to foster an investment-friendly climate. Notably, a driving force behind Guyana’s agricultural potential lies in the rising demand for CARICOM self-sufficiency.
Today’s proceedings also witnessed active involvement from a diverse array of participants, including farmers, agro-processors, and students from the Guyana School of Agriculture, who engaged in panel discussions covering various facets of agro-development and business.
Agriculture indeed plays a significant role in Guyana’s economy, serving as a major contributor to the nation’s export revenue and providing employment for approximately 17% of the workforce.
As of 2022, the agricultural sector accounted for more than 19% of the non-oil gross development (GDP).
Furthermore, the Government of Guyana is actively pursuing partnerships between the public and private sectors to advance the establishment of modern dairy processing facilities and state-of-the-art slaughterhouses. This initiative opens up opportunities for the development of a comprehensive supply chain within the dairy industry, encompassing services like transportation, processing, packaging, and storage. It is worth noting that the cold chain management sector is still in its early stages of development in Guyana.
In a promising development, it was also revealed that Minister Mustapha recently introduced the Agriculture and Innovation Entrepreneurship Programme (AIEP), also known as the shade house initiative, as part of the government’s three-year effort to diversify the sector.
This initiative, conceptualized by President Dr. Irfaan Ali, aims to provide young individuals with hands-on experience in cultivating high-value crops within shade houses.
According to Mustapha the National Agricultural Research & Extension Institute (NAREI) has already procured one hundred shade houses that will be used to distribute across the country to engage the youth.
Over 200 young people are currently overseeing these shade houses, marking a significant increase since the AIEP initiative’s launch in January 2022. This initiative includes the provision of resources and materials for the development of 25 shade houses in the first phase, focused on the cultivation of high-value crops like broccoli, sweet pepper, bell peppers, and parsley.
