A delegation of visiting North Koreans on Monday met Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, and discussed several areas of potential investment and cooperation between the two nations.
The Koreans said they were examining the prospects of establishing several projects and were seeking the Ministry’s input on any likely areas of priority.
Minister Persaud listed some of Guyana’s ongoing ventures, including aquaculture, tropical hardwood processing, livestock, fruits and vegetables.
He said the internal consumption with regard to rice and sugar is limited, prompting Guyana’s dependence on export markets.
However, he mentioned that Guyana has been looking for partners in the area of deep-sea fishing, which is largely an unexplored zone.
With North Korea being an industrialised country, the Koreans said they are interested in diversifying their agricultural product, since food security has become an issue.
More than 90 percent of the sector is attributed to soybean and North Korea can hardly be described as self-sufficient.
They expressed interest in forestry products, soybean plantations and were also asked to ponder on the operation of a sugar refinery.
Minister Persaud said two possibilities that exist in Guyana are diversifying and creating value-added products from the sugar-cane and rice, as there is widespread wastage of material that can be used as by-products.
“There is the possibility of developing ethanol production because we’re already using the sugarcane to produce biogas fuel to supply the grid. Opportunities exist for value-added within the rice industry too, because we do not make cereals and so on.”
He disclosed that a feasibility study has already been done on establishing a refinery, but it is just the question of investment.
Guyana has earmarked several thousand acres of land and is currently conducting tests on different soil types to ascertain the best conditions under which various strains of soybean and corn will flourish.
Three experts from Brazil are working along with the ministry in finding the suitable areas for cultivation, Minister Persaud said. (GINA)