– under US$23M diversification programme
The Ministry of Agriculture informed a national stakeholders’ meeting about the interventions it has undertaken as it moves ahead with plans to establish three agribusiness sub-sectors under a US$23 million Agriculture Diversification Programme.
The Inter-American Development Bank has put US$21.9 million into the programme with counterpart funding from the Guyana government of US$1.1million, a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said. At the opening ceremony of the meeting, held at the Guyana School of Agriculture, Minister Robert Persaud said the ministry has been pursuing the development of three agribusiness sub-sectors for some time. He said with the necessary financing it will be able to take the project further especially with international and government support amounting to almost $2 billion.
The programme targets an increase in the export of non-traditional agricultural commodities and it seeks to establish services and institutions for a sustainable increase in the income gained from the export of non-traditional commodities in the aquaculture, fruits and vegetables, and livestock sub-sectors such as beef, peppers, pumpkins, plantains and farm grown fish, particularly tilapia.
Persaud said he is hopeful that the programme achieves its objectives. He noted too that government has also invested heavily in the rice and sugar sectors and will continue to do so. Government will also support the private sector in several areas including organising stakeholders and interested investors into working groups in order to drive development of the specific commodity value chains, providing grants to propel investments in the clusters, and providing technical assistance for capacity enhancement in agri-business, including contractual business arrangements, international best practices and phytosanitary requirements of Guyana’s trading partners among other areas.
