Historically Guyana’s economy has been agriculture-based and undoubtedly it will remain so for a very long time because of the large tracts of arable lands and volumes of fresh water it possesses. In fact, in the late 1950s and early 1960s it was regarded as the ‘breadbasket of the Caribbean’, but unfortunately with a change of government in the mid 1960s most of the advancements that were made in the agriculture sector were reversed and agricultural output began to rapidly decline because of the neglect to the sector and eventually this country became a net importer of food.

Agricultural output declined to the point where even chicken and eggs had to be imported apart from a whole host of food items which previously were produced in adequate quantities for local consumption including milk.

With respect to the latter milk production rose to such levels in the early 1960s that there was a need for the establishment of a milk pasteurisation plant which was established in Kingston but unfortunately it became one of those many victims of an ill-fated agricultural policy of a government which paid little or no attention to agriculture.

However, with the advent of the current administration there has been a renewed emphasis on the agricultural sector and every effort is being made to boost this vital area of the national economy. Consequently, many farmers who had abandoned their lands have now returned and as a result we have a seen a revitalised agriculture sector and this country once again being returned to the state of being an exporter of food.

And while a solid foundation for the sector has been re-laid, efforts are underway to diversify and to boost the non-traditional crops which have an enormous potential to become a major sub-sector and contribute significantly to our agriculture exports.

Already significant headway has been made in the export of cash crops, pineapples and other fruits, particularly to North America and several initiatives are underway to further boost this sub-sector.

On this score it was quite heartening to hear of the recent $198M consultancy contract with Italian-based company AGROTEC Spa. to provide health and food safety services under the Agriculture Export Diversification Programme (AEDP). The purpose of this programme is to see the establishment of services and institutions facilitating a sustainable rise in earnings from export of non-traditional agricultural output in the aquaculture, fruits and vegetables and livestock sub-sectors.

This is indeed a critical area because food and health safety go hand in hand and is of utmost importance to the international food market.

This is another significant step forward as the local agriculture sector consolidates its huge potential.