Guyana is blessed with an abundance of arable land and fresh water which are the fundamentals of agriculture and indeed or economy is an agro-based one.

It has been so in the past and it still is agriculture-driven. Our agricultural potential is almost limitless and in more recent years we witnessed a remarkable growth in the agriculture sector. And if the sugar industry were not facing difficulties and challenges, the growth would have been even more impressive. Nevertheless, rice, fruits and vegetables and non-traditional crops, poultry and meat production have all seen an unprecedented growth. As a result we have become self sufficient in food production and, in fact, has become a net exporter of food.
As President Donald Ramotar noted: “There must be something we are doing right to have achieved this.”
Therefore, the disclosure that Guyana is among 17 countries that have been recognised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for achieving the target of curtailing hunger and improving nutrition, is most welcome, and is testimony that we are pursuing sound agricultural policies and programmes.
This recognition is even more remarkable in light of startling figures whereby about one-third of global food production is either being lost or wasted, amounting to about one billion tonnes of food yearly even as people, particularly children, the world over are starving.
At the launch of the Hungry Free Initiative in July of 2012,  it was reported that 52.5 million people in the Caribbean and Latin America are still undernourished and there was grave concern about the lack of immediacy in addressing the issue.
 Also, when we consider that in the 1980s and early 1990s we were a net importer of food as a result of the agriculture sector being in a state of near collapse. The situation was so bad that at one time we had to import sugar from Guatemala and rice from Vietnam in order to be able to satisfy our export markets and at the same time meet local demand.
 From being the ‘breadbasket’ of the Caribbean in the early 1960s we moved to being the ‘basket case’ of the Caribbean and were the laughing stock of the Region as traders brought in even bread in their suitcases.
 However, with the advent of the PPP/C government following the historic October 1992 elections, the agriculture sector began turning around again through a series of deliberate interventions aimed at increasing agricultural output. These interventions have been sustained and that is why today our agriculture sector is on a firm footing and so much is being achieved.
For example, this year $500M has been allocated in the national budget for the establishment of a farmers’ fertiliser and planting material facility which will boost and strengthen food production and reinvigorate the Grow More Food campaign. The campaign taken across the country has motivated farmers as they are benefiting from free distribution of seeds, other planting materials, breeding animals and feed. Rural farmers, agro investors, processors, exporters and all those involved in the value chain have benefited from these investments

Diversification has also played a major role in the expansion and increased output of the agricultural sector  which has seen increasing attention to livestock such as the genetic pool of cattle, fisheries, (developing large-scale, commercial, export-oriented tilapia farms), and encouragement of rural enterprises.
Infrastructural investments in agriculture have seen the genetic bank and the artificial insemination laboratory, rehabilitation works at the breeding station at Mon Repos, and construction works at the quarantine checkpoints at St. Ignatius and Mabura.
With its vast arable lands as in the Rupununi Savannahs, a major project was undertaken to cultivate rice in 2010, while a landmark private sector investment has paved the way for 30,000 acres of integrated farming at Santa Fe, Region 9.
 However, our weakest links in agriculture are the troubled sugar industry and dairy production, but efforts are ongoing to address the obstacles in these areas.
 But we can be assured that our agriculture sector is set to make greater achievements and further position our country as a major global food producer in the near future.