Suriname is hoping to boost its once thriving rice industry by closely working with Guyana, its President Desi Bouterse said yesterday.
Bouterse met President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday, and following the meeting told reporters that the two pledged to collaborate in the area of agriculture. He identified the rice sector as one area where his nation could do with assistance from Guyana.
According to Bouterse, Suriname’s once thriving rice industry – which covered about 70,000 hectares in the 1980s – has been reduced to less than half of that. He said this is of concern to his government, even as he noted that Guyana has seen an improvement in its production.
Once “order and perspective” is brought to rice production in Suriname, Bouterse said, this would create the basis for the two countries to meet and see how they can both penetrate the Caribbean market in a more proactive way. He said while several goods are subsidized when they are brought into the region, he believes that if Guyana and Suriname combine resources they could be large suppliers of food to the region.
Meantime, Jagdeo said they have examined some “very practical mechanisms” which he hopes would lead to positive developments in the area of agriculture. He said some of the existing systems in the Caricom network may be successfully applied in a bilateral arrangement with Suriname.
