The government has budgeted $97.6b for the agricultural sector this year in comparison to the total of $60b which had been pumped into the agri sector in 2023.
In presenting the largest budget in Guyana’s history under the theme ‘Staying the course: Building prosperity for all’ yesterday in the National Assembly, Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, announced that in 2024, “$97.6 B is budgeted to advance and improve agriculture development throughout the country.”
GuySuCo forms part of the agriculture budget with $6b, $1.3b is budgeted for the GRDB to support the rice sector, $2.6b for other crops, $1.2b has been allocated for fisheries and the aquaculture sector, and $29.4b has been budgeted for drainage and irrigation which includes the construction of two Hope-like canals and 40 mobile pumps. Further, $72.3 B is budgeted to upgrade and maintain the national drainage and irrigation network.
Singh yesterday stated that since 2020 the agriculture sector has been experiencing a rapid transformation “evolving from a neglected, small scale rural based subsistence level farming enterprises as it was during 2015 -2020 to dynamic large scale, plantation scale industries.”
Agriculture and agribusiness enterprises are taking their rightful place as major producers and exporters poised to meet the challenges of food self-sufficiency and food security in Guyana and across the Caribbean, he said.
“Mr. Speaker in 2023, we expended the sum of $60.4 B to stimulate and invigorate the agriculture sector. Consistent with the undertakings committed in budget 2023 arrangements were concluded to commence construction of the regional food hub on the Linden to Soesdyke Highway, over 200 shade houses were procured, hydroponics project benefiting 300 youths from regions 2,5 and 10 were launched and a wide array of planting materials, agriculture equipment, shade house and fencing materials, livestock and poultry to develop agriculture” were distributed throughout the country.
He said that in 2024 the government will continue to promote investment in large-scale agriculture by opening new lands, developing high yielding pest resistant and climate-resilient crop varieties, encouraging the establishment of modern farms to facilitate the use of technology and more efficient farm practices, promoting increased aquaculture and shrimp farming, cultivating new crops and expanding livestock production as well as modernizing, upgrading and strengthening drainage and irrigation and farm to market infrastructure and support services.
Singh stated, “Furthermore we will commission a tissue culture laboratory which is expected to produce 1m plantlets per year. This increased production will facilitate ready availability and easy access of planting material.”
Touching on the sugar industry, Singh said, that his government had promised to revive sugar after the closure of estates under the previous administration as such he pointed out that in just under three years they were able to reopen the Rose Hall Estate “through retooling and mechanization we achieved the conversion of 2740 hectares of land to our mechanical harvesting at Rose Hall, Albion, and Blairmont and since September 2020 we’ve invested in the rehabilitation and modernization of factories and cane fields.”
“And over 4600 workers were rehired bringing total employment to over 8,100 employees across the industry.”
According to him, in 2024 the conversion of land for mechanized harvesting will continue targeting a further 7100 hectares, “additional works will be completed on Albion and Blairmont packaging plants, the installation of a sugar dryer at Blairmont Estate, and the rehabilitation of heavy and light duty revetments across the industry will strengthen the drainage system to allow timely delivery of harvested canes to the factory.”
This year, he said, the budget will contribute $6b to GuySuCo to further improve production and operational efficiency of the industry.
Touching on rice, Singh stated that the government’s aim is to expand and develop the rice industry as such they have been introducing new high yielding varieties, providing improved drainage and irrigation system and farm-to-market roads aswell as securing new markets and introducing new technology.
As such in 2024, “We will continue to invest in improving the quality and quantity of seed paddy available to the rice farmers, we will provide enhanced best practices in the cultivation of paddy, we will continue to research and develop high yielding varieties with good milling and cooking qualities and varieties that are salt resistant and resistant to major rice diseases, we will evaluate the new G1410 high yielding variety in far more fields in 2024.”
In addition to drainage and irrigation, Singh said, that $1.3 B will be expended by GRDB to support increased production and productivity in the rice industry.
In terms of other crops, Singh said, that the government’s commitment to diversify nontraditional agriculture has seen emerging transformation of the subsector with the expanded cultivation of corn, soya bean, citrus, spices, coconuts, high-value crops such as broccoli, cauliflowers, bell peppers, romaine lettuce, carrots, etc.
To bolster the expanded production of nontraditional crops, “we have invested in supporting infrastructure, we’ve invested in laboratory and extension services and we are opening up new market opportunities.”
In 2023, $1.9 B was expended to support other crop interventions while in 2024 a sum of $2.6 B is budgeted to “support the other crop sector.”
Homing in on corn and soya beans, Singh pointed out that the government’s collaboration with the private sector has been “very successful” with them investing over $1.4b over the last three years to develop the “infrastructure within the Tacama area to support the cultivation and production targets.”
“This saw the completion of the access road to Tacama, complemented by the now operational and very impressive drying and storage facility, work has started on an access wharf at Tacama and is slated for completion in 2024.”
For this year a sum of $967.8m is budgeted to improve the capacity of the Tacama facility.
Additionally, Singh said, that since returning to the office they have accelerated the development of the coconut industry bringing 31,500 acres into cultivation and establishing 10 additional coconut nurseries around the country to develop support services.
In 2023, 40,000 seedlings were produced and 13,000 high yielding coconut seed nuts were imported to improve coconut productivity across the country with 1274 additional acres of coconuts were cultivated and 297 farmers benefited from training.
In 2024, government will continue to accelerate coconut production by investing 39,000 high-yielding seed nuts targeting 500 additional farmers. “We will continue to pursue the conversion of coconut waste into value-added products and for this purpose, Sir a sum of $78 M is budgeted to support the coconut sector.”
Singh then revealed that in 2023, over 51,000 Kg of planting materials for spices and 133,000 plantlets for citrus were distributed with investments being made to improve several planting facilities which will be completed this year.
“We will distribute over 58,000 Kg of planting materials for spices and 25,000 plantlets for citrus in 2024. Moreover, we will be introducing for the first time the distribution of planting materials for spices such as nutmeg, black pepper and cinnamon a sum of $100m is budgeted for these intervention.”
High value crops
In 2023, an additional 200 shade houses were procured as part of the government’s agriculture and innovation entrepreneurship programme. “These shade houses will benefit young agri entrepreneurs and increase production of high-value crops.”
Singh stressed that one of the government’s objectives is to also support the development of the agro-processing industry including the value chain development and market expansion for products while creating opportunities for sustained livelihoods for small entrepreneurs and communities. As such, in 2023, two refrigerator trucks were procured, the Orealla processing facility was rehabilitated, equipment was installed in agro-processing facilities in Mabaruma, Parika, and Sophia, solar dryers were established in Crabwood Creek and Nappi and new processing facilities were completed at Charity and White Water Creek, additional works were advanced on a cold storage facility at Bartica and solar dryers in Bara Cara, Kamarang and other areas which are scheduled for completion in 2024.
