Retired director of the Government Analyst Food and Drugs Department Marilyn Collins has said that if Guyana is to increase its global market share in agricultural products, serious attention must be paid to significantly raising the standards of our research and testing facilities associated with ensuring that our food exports reach the increasingly high standards that are being demanded by the major importing countries.
In an article on the science of food safety written for the Stabroek Business, Collins notes that while agriculture already accounts “for approximately 32% of GDP, 30% of employment, and 40% of export earnings,” the export of nontraditional products, including fruits and vegetables, to Caricom and further afield can see agriculture’s contribution rise even further to an estimated 50% of the GDP on account of what she says is a comparative advantage which Guyana enjoys “in the export of other crops and livestock products, fruits and vegetables, and aquaculture. “It is therefore essential for Guyana to enhance the competitiveness of its industries of value added agricultural products, in quality and safety inspection and certification parameters,” Collins says.
What had up until then been widely regarded as a seriously under-resourced Food Analyst and Drugs Department became further denuded when the then political administration moved to shut down the Kingston premises of the department (the site currently forms part of the controversial Marriot Hotel) and relocate it to a modest space on the Turkeyen campus of the University of Guyana. Both Collins and current Director of the
