MINISTER of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy declared, Monday, that Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh and his team have crafted a plan that keeps Guyana on a trajectory to meet the needs of its people and all the millennium development goals (MDGs).

Ramsammy made the declaration in his contribution to the 2013 Budget Debate in the National Assembly.
“This is a comprehensive budget; it is a people-centred budget; it is a budget with more pro-people measures than any budget I can ever recall in our history,” he stated.
The minister said that, given Guyana’s economic and social successes and its track record, the ambition of becoming a high middle income country does not seem so improbable today.
He contended that the pace of reaching this goal can be accelerated by working together for the people and in the interest of Guyana.
“I am not pointing my fingers in any direction. But it is the truth that we have not tried hard enough to work in the interest of our people. Some of us want to, but we need a collective effort with all of us in pursuit of this goal,” Ramsammy posited.
He emphasised that working together is an imperative and is the mandate from the people of Guyana.
Constrained
The minister stated that, as in any country, the government’s plan is constrained by the resources at its disposal. Nevertheless, he said that the 2013 Budget is one with something for everyone, for every community and every region of Guyana.
He urged Opposition members to support the budget because “it is the right thing to do, because it is in the interest of the people of Guyana.”
Ramsammy charged that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP) Amna Ally and several other speakers on the Opposition side have decided that the budget was crafted for “People’s Progressive Party cronies.”
However, he alluded to measures in the budget, such as the 25 percent increase in old age pension, the $2.9 billion for electricity in Linden and the almost $400M for the Amerindian Development Fund and asked how those could possibly be for PPP cronies.
He said his allotted speaking time in the House did not permit him to go through the billions of dollars being budgeted to benefit the citizens of Guyana, but if one is to listen to the Opposition MPs, “there is nobody left who is not a PPP crony.”
In addition, Ramsammy recalled that MP Moses Nagamootoo, from the Alliance For Change (AFC), spoke of State entities and compared their profit making records to that of private companies or private businesses.
“He is comparing public entities, established to provide services at the lowest cost and subsidies to the cost of the service for consumers to private entities established for the sole purpose of optimising profits. The private businesses seek to provide products or services at the highest possible cost and do not subsidise the cost of the product,” Ramsammy pointed out.
He said, given all that needs to be catered for in the development of Guyana and the balanced development that must be pursued, the Finance Ministry, with able leadership from Minister Singh, has done a good job.
“I am disappointed, therefore, that the Opposition members have found nothing good in the budget to commend, that they have pronounced that this budget is dead on arrival, that they find no good reason to support the budget. I would hope that, in the interest of our people, we will all support Budget 2013,” Ramsammy urged.
Recommendations
He admitted that he has heard some commendable recommendations from some other members, which would cost little, noting that those should be adopted as the country moves forward.
However, he agreed that there are other things recommended which might cost significantly more and they must be taken into consideration. For instance, he said, the recommendation of a technical institute in Region 9 (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) is part of a larger PPP/C Government development plan which, in time, will become reality.
The minister observed that the budget for the agriculture sector, which continues to be a significant part of Guyana’s development, is presented under the theme ‘Intensifying national food and nutrition security and expanding exports’.
He said agriculture, in the last 20 years, was one of the main vehicles that moved Guyana from a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of less than US$300 to more than US$3,100 per capita in 2012.
Ramsammy said, further, that the country must continue to foster the transformation of its economy through stronger and smarter investments in drainage and irrigation, agricultural research and developing and adapting new technology, among others.
Moreover, he pointed out that, whilst Guyana has had strategies for rice, sugar, other crops and fisheries, there was never an agriculture strategy but he advised that, by the end of July 2013, Guyana will have its first ever Agriculture Strategy for 2013 to 2020.
Noting that rice has been the star performer in the sector, he added that there has been two successive years (2011 and 2012) of production of more than 400,000 tons.
Concern
Additionally, Ramsammy said Guyana is now poised to surpass the 2012 record production this year but, as the successes with rice are being celebrated, he admitted that the sugar industry must be an equal concern.
“There are those who believe that sugar is dead. I wish to say that sugar will continue to play a significant role in Guyana’s future of sustainable and accelerated growth and development. Sugar will recover and exceed 2012 production, but the challenges will not be overcome this year,” he accepted.
In relation to the Skeldon Sugar Factory, the minister concurred that it has not performed as expected but assured that it is already showing its potential and will be able to meet its targets by 2016.
He said, among several of the thriving agricultural initiatives being undertaken by his ministry, the embryo transfer is a new flagship programme in Guyana which is already impacting the country’s livestock
“There is a six-week old calf at the Guyana School of Agriculture Farm. The calf is one of the approximately 20 calves produced through embryo transfer technology. Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), introduced embryo transfer as a method to improve the quality of breeds in Guyana’s livestock industry,” Ramsammy disclosed.
He also revealed that a bio-ethanol plant will come into operation at Albion by July and another thing to look forward to is Guyana hosting the Caribbean Week of Agriculture in October, which, according to him, will be a great occasion for the country to showcase itself and its agricultural successes and products.