This newspaper reported last month, following the much touted Agricultural Investment Forum, that Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha had enthused that Guyana was on the verge of achieving a 25% reduction in its food import bill by 2025 (25 by 2025). Though this target was set definitively by Caricom Heads of Government in 2022, the region had long bemoaned its high food import bill and cast about for ways to reduce it in the face of looming food insecurity, brought about by climate change, wars and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.
As he rhapsodised over the “major success” of last month’s Agricultural Investment Forum and projected that next year’s will be “bigger and better” at a press conference held at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Mustapha was asked specifically about Guyana’s progress to 25 by 2025. His unclear answer referred to large-scale corn and soya cultivation and he had earlier raved about how many patrons at the expo’s farmer’s market purchased fresh fruit and vegetables. That is indeed to be applauded. However, surely Mr Mustapha does not believe the route towards reducing Guyana’s food import bill lies only with growing corn, soya and fresh fruits and vegetables? If he does, he is obviously missing a very important link.
Data from local sources, as usual, is not as available as it should be. Nevertheless, the facts are still visible. According to World Bank figures, in 2022, Guyana’s food imports were up 5% from 2021; the tally for 2022 was US$236.9 million, which was US$30 million more than 2021. It is highly unlikely that 2023’s food import bill will be lower than last year’s; in reality, it might very well be much higher.
From a list of total imports to Guyana in 2022, according to World Bank data, the first food-related and eleventh highest item was water, to the tune of some US$38 million. This included mineral and aerated water, containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or flavoured; it did not include fruit or vegetable juices. Total imports of maize (corn) came in at $21.4 million and soya beans, whether broken or not at US$98,786. Also on that list were sausages and similar products of meat, meat offal, or blood and food preparations based on these products; these were chiefly imported from Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, the USA, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Suriname, China and the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, the other top imports last year by category were beverages (including fruit juices and sodas, excluding water), spirits and vinegar; salt; dairy products, eggs, and honey; cereals, flour, starch, and milk preparations and products. More imports listed included coffee, tea, cocoa and spices; vegetable oils; pet food and forage crops; margarine and other oils and fats; poultry; and wine and wine-based products.
It has to be noted here that soya and fresh fruits and vegetables are not listed among the country’s chief imports. That is not to say that strengthening the agricultural economy is not important to food security. It absolutely is. Rather, the point is that in order to reduce the food import bill, more attention has to be paid to what is actually imported and whether the items that arrive in containers from overseas to stock stores and supermarkets are really necessary.
As a case in point, about a year ago, a local fine dining restaurant began offering Wagyu steaks on its menu costing between $40,000 and $70,000 per serving. Authentic Wagyu beef, which is intricately marbled with fat, originated from Japan where the cows are reared in a specific way. However, farms in the US, Australia and New Zealand are also rearing and selling Wagyu beef, having studied the Japanese methods. It is an expensive steak with retail prices (raw) ranging from US$79 to US$225 per pound. Obviously, the question is whether a Guyanese restaurant, fine dining or not, needs Wagyu on its menu. As a one-off item, one could argue that it is hardly being purchased in large enough quantities to directly impact the food import bill on its own. However, add it to other frivolous imports and an entirely different picture will emerge.
There is no gainsaying the importance of boosting agriculture and increasing exports in that sector. However, to imply that this alone will lead to Guyana accomplishing a 25% reduction in its food import bill by 2025 is naïve at best and disingenuous at worst. Indeed, given that the local nouveau riche are developing discerning tastes or pretending to, current trends point to any gaps left by the halting of imports of soya and corn (if indeed this occurs) being filled by luxury foods. Perhaps there will be Kobe beef (from Japan – US$200 to US$500 per lb), Kopi Luwak coffee (from Indonesia – US$649 per 2.2 lbs), Iberico ham (from Spain or Portugal – US$140 per lb), and Densuke Watermelons (grown exclusively on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan – starting at US$250 each), to name a few, appearing on menus or in stores come 2025 if they are not there already.
