Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday said that the company by the name of Farmlands Guyana Inc which is gearing up to cultivate 1,000 hectares of land in the Tacama Savannah, Berbice with corn and soya beans comprises Guyanese and foreign investors.
Mustapha stressed that the government is moving ahead at full pace to cultivate corn and soya beans. “…we want to do it large scale”, he said, adding that in his last budget presentation in the National Assembly, he had said that in another three years “we will plant almost 25,000 acres two times per year to be self-sufficient and be a net exporter.”
According to him, answering that call is a “set of Guyanese and other foreign investors working together.”
He stated, “They have heard our call and they came on board. I met with Dean Hassan, he is the principal, he is a Guyanese and he has some other foreign investors and they will be working together to deal with this.”
Hassan has been involved in the mining industry. No other information has been provided on the investors.
A release from the ministry had said that investors from Farmlands Guyana Inc met with Minister Mustapha earlier this week at his Regent Street office to discuss operations as they prepare to begin work on the initial 1,000 hectares of land in the Tacama Savannah.
During the meeting, it was disclosed that 700 hectares will be used to cultivate soya and the remaining 300 hectares will be used to grow corn. The company is expected to begin cultivation in November and hopes to increase its acreage to some 24,000 hectares in the coming years.
This is the second group of investors who have set out on developing the industry to supply inputs for the production of feed for the livestock industry, the release noted.
Mustapha said that the government has already invested hundreds of millions of dollars to support the industry. So far works have been moving apace on the construction of facilities such as three 3000-tonne silos and one 80-tonne-per-hour drying tower at the Tacama Landing.
In 2022, some $887 million was budgeted to undertake infrastructural works needed to support the large-scale cultivation of corn and soya bean.
