THE Cuban government has committed to providing the necessary skills to support Guyana’s aggressively-driven, agricultural diversification effort following highly successful meetings last week between Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud and the Ministers of Agriculture, Sugar and Food Production in Cuba.
According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), the meetings looked at Cuban specialists supporting Guyana’s agriculture diversification.

GINA reported that Cuba has offered specialist training to Guyana’s Agriculture officers and students at the various institutions under the Ministries in Cuba.
Further, Cuba is interested in the modernization of Guyana’s agriculture sector and will appoint a team of officials to study the changes that Guyana is undergoing for agriculture diversification and food production.
Minister Persaud also briefed Cuban officials of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy and Forest Management. GINA said Cuba’s interest in the latter has heightened as it has requested a senior forest officer from Guyana to make a presentation on forest management. Cuba is twenty three percent forested.
In addition, a team of experts from Cuba will support the implementation of GuySuCo’s turnaround plan in the areas of crop production and management.
And in a continued effort to deal with the weaknesses in the industry, particularly in cultivation, Guyana is pursuing tapping Cuban expertise in the areas of Agri Engineer/Field Workshop, Soil Scientist, Biometrician and Civil Engineer, according to Minister Persaud.
Experts will cover a range of skills so as to improve GuySuCo’s agricultural programme – from breeding to tissue culture, pest and disease control to better field management.
Initially six experts are being tapped. GuySuCo and the Cuban skills agency for global sugar support  -Technoazucar –  are to finalise details.

Cuba provides skills to support sugar industries in Brazil, Guatemala, Panama, Nigeria, and Vietnam, among other sugar producing countries.
Guyana and Cuba are expected to learn from each other as both countries’ sugar sector are being modernized and reformed in light of changes to the market arrangements.
In the early 1990’s, Cuba was producing over four million tonnes per annum; production is now about 1.2 million tonnes.
The Guyanese Agriculture Minister, who visited Cuba for the meetings, also met with officials and experts to discuss common challenges as well as the pursuit of solutions.
Like Guyana, Cuba has embarked on a mechanization programme as well as research to deal with climate change and its impact on sugar cultivation.
Recently, GuySuCo tapped three experts from India for the new Skeldon sugar factory and skills are targeted to “beef up” and train local experts.
No effort will be spared to get the needed skills set for GuySuCo so that the turnaround plan can be successful, Minister Persaud stated.

The cooperation arrangement is expected to boost Guyana’s exports and its diversification drive.
Accompanying Minister Persaud to Cuba were Dr. Dwight Waldrond, Head, Livestock Development Unit of the Guyana Livestock Development Board; and Rajendra Singh, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, GuySuCo.