Accompanied by Chief Crops and Livestock Officer, Brian Sears; Plant Health Manager, Joseph Mc Allister; and Chairman of the Regional Democratic Council of Region Six, Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister Persaud explained that he was visiting Suriname to address a number of concerns, including the recent closure of the crossing and suspicions expressed by Surinamese authorities of the existence of a particular plant disease in Guyana.

Minister Persaud, whilst informing the gathering of developments back home, cautioned against impulsive conclusions and decisions based on hearsay. He asserted that Guyana has one of the more advanced plant health monitoring and surveillance system. Annually, the export of fruits and vegetables increases by 20-30%, testimony to the sanitary, disease-free conditions regarding the rearing and handling of produce. In fact, given the country’s thrust in agriculture expansion, diversification and modernisation, Guyana is considered to be one of the leading exporters in fruits and vegetables in the Caribbean Region. It is a necessary good for a small state like Guyana to produce food to feed an increasingly hungry world – a world that is decimated by the effects of large states whose heavy industrial ambition is a necessary evil.

Appreciating the significance of quality agriculture, the Guyana Government has invested significantly in securing first class animal and plant health, and other systems upon which demand or marketability is contingent. Minister Persaud assured the gathering of Government’s commitment to the prevention, reduction and eradication of any threat to plant or animal health.

Minister Persaud pointed out that he had met with his Surinamese counterpart, Dr Karamchand Ragoebarsingh, and Commissar of Nickerie, B Shankar, both of whom are committed to the reopening of the Guyana-Suriname unofficial crossing. He informed that he gave his assurance that agricultural products on the Guyana side will be subject to the receipt of plant health quarantine inspection and necessary certification, in an effort to ensure that there is no apprehension toward the bilateral agro-trade agreement.     

Minister Persaud also took the opportunity to advance Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), explaining major tenets of the strategy and how returning to Guyana and investing in agriculture may be an economically sound choice. He made reference to the abundance of capacity for agri-business investment, citing the in excess of 125,000 hectares of land running from Canje Back right through to Orealla as a case in point. He stated that such facility will soon become accessible as a result of the infrastructural development path upon which the country has embarked. (GINA)