The Mahaica Mahaicony Abary – Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) will receive an allocation of $250 million that will enable more lands for local farmers to increase production for crop and livestock. This was revealed by the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha during today’s consideration of the budget estimates for 2024. He was at the time responding to queries from Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Vinceroy Jordan about the allocation and whether it caters for vehicles and equipment.
Minister Mustapha said the allocation was dedicated to drainage and irrigation structures, with no inclusion of vehicles or equipment.
With CARICOM’s goal to reduce the food import bills for the respective member states by 25 percent by 2025, Minister Mustapha said this allocation will assist in opening up access to new lands to boost crop and livestock production. The official said, “We are building a food hub in Guyana, and we have to ensure that for Guyana to be the food hub, we must produce food in a large quantity.”
With respect to opening up more acreage in the MMA scheme the minister said, “This year we have almost 85 or close to 90,000 acres under rice cultivation… And most of the seeds are being produced right at MMA and with this improvement that we are having, we can be able to produce all of the seed paddy needs for Region Five’s MMA scheme for (about) 100,000 acres of rice.”
Meanwhile another Opposition Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira directed attention to the allocation of $325M for the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and how it will benefit farmers along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
Mustapha responded by detailing specific interventions, including enhancing the Karuni station, collaborating with Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) for dedicated wells, and expanding nurseries for the planting of cocoa and coffee. He emphasized the broader goal of changing the perception of Region 10, encouraging more involvement in farming beyond its mining reputation.
“What we are doing we are enhancing the Karuni station that we have there. We are in the process now working directly with the GWI (Guyana Water Incorporated) to do a well there so that they can have their own water supply,” he noted.
Following those queries by Figueira and other members, the budgetary allocation for NAREI was approved under the overall budgetary allocation of over $50B for the Ministry of Agriculture.