With youths accounting for approximately 68 percent of Guyana’s population, the government has been working feverishly, over the past four years, to make working in the agriculture sector an attractive prospect for this demograhic. In fact, the government has been able to convince over 500 youths to support its agenda to grow more food for the country. Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, recently disclosed this commendable achievement. He said the administration is on a mission to attract at least 900 more.
Speaking during an episode of “The Guyana Dialogue,” an online programme moderated by members within the Guyanese Diaspora, Mustapha said achieving a state of food security, where the country produces most, if not all the food it needs, requires the involvement of more people.
“To do this, first of all, we had to make it attractive, we had to make it modern for young people,” said the minister. He noted that young Guyanese who are fresh out of the University of Guyana or the Guyana School of Agriculture with their certificates or degrees, are not interested in the traditionally laborious aspects of the industry. A fresh approach that merged entrepreneurship with food security birthed the Agriculture Innovation Entrepreneurship Programme (AIEP).
The idea with this programme was simple, said the minister. It allowed for a company to be formed and for youths to be the shareholders. The company would lead the way in utilizing a hydroponics farm as well as shade houses to produce high value crops such as cauliflower, carrots, lettuce, bell peppers and broccoli, thereby reducing the $2.6 billion cost for the government to import these items. Mustapha said the pilot programme has employed over 500 young people country-wide, adding that plans are afoot to attract more youths.
“We have the largest hydroponic farm in the Caribbean…we are doing three more of those in three other regions—Regions 2, 5, and 10—where each farm will attract approximately 300 young persons. We also have over 600 shade houses and they will run these farms, they will make their livelihood out of these farms, and they will bring in more young people,” said the minister.
He shared that these modern farms will have the capacity to produce 100,000 plants at any time, and within 9 to 12 weeks, produce will be ready. Mustapha said the “New” Guyana Marketing Corporation (New GMC) has been tasked with finding a regional market for the produce. “So we are not only giving opportunities to be entrepreneurs, we are ensuring our young people are able to grow and expand their market base too,” the minister concluded.
Overall, Mustapha said the foregoing achievements solidify that the government is committed to building a diversified and resilient economy, with young people at the helm.
