THE Ministry of Agriculture has taken away leases awarded to rice farmers at Kokerit in East Berbice and reissued them for the lands, with the specific instruction that they be used solely for livestock rearing.
The subject minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy made the disclosure yesterday, while emphasising the need for a policy of land tenure for the livestock sub-sector.

He said this issue has to be urgently addressed if this area of agricultural production is not to merely survive but to grow and reach its full potential.
He was addressing the gathering at a national consultation on livestock development and strategy held by the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA).
Ramsammy said, too, that Guyana needed to fast track traceability requirements and livestock processing facilities which would enable livestock products to meet international marketing standards.
The Livestock Sector Strategy and Policy Forum was designed to identify barriers to production and marketing and determining innovative methods for dealing with those issues so that the full potential can be achieved.
The venue was the GLDA’s Head Office at Mon Repos, East Coast of Demerara.
MAIN CHALLENGE
Speaking about his withdrawal of leases for rice farming in Kokerit, Dr Ramsammy said the situation there, which he was forced to correct, epitomised the main challenge facing the livestock sub-sector in Guyana, namely a lack of cohesion on land tenure for livestock at the national level.
“Kokerit is cattle land, yet persons got leases to plant rice there. I have said this cannot be allowed to continue. Land allocated solely for livestock must be used solely for livestock, since the livestock industry cannot develop without land.
“I said that those converting this land into rice production must stop immediately. Kokerit is cattle land. So, at the moment, all the leases that were granted for rice farming are being withdrawn. We are giving back those leases to interested persons with the specification that the land be used for livestock production and nothing else,” he said.
He declared that, unlike the rice and sugar industries, Guyana does not have a land tenure policy relating to livestock which is consistent and reciprocal with its ambitions for that industry.
The Agriculture Minister said: “We have an ambition to reduce importation of dairy products. We are working, diligently, with the GLDA to have a commercial level dairy plant established but these things are not possible unless you have a land tenure policy that relates to it. And we have to be firm on it.”
“If we think that livestock has an important place for diet and nutrition; if we think we can reduce dairy imports; if we think we can meet all the demands of the meat we need in Guyana; if we think we can export surplus, then there has to be a land policy,” he declared.
The minister said there is need to determine whether there can be common grazing grounds for livestock.
“Do we need common grazing grounds for livestock? Or a different kind of arrangement, perhaps one accommodating larger herds?” he posited.
FURTHER HARDSHIPS
Dr Ramsammy told the audience that these were questions which needed to be urgently addressed, adding that, to leave them unresolved will create further hardships and conflicts within farming communities.
“There are lots of conflicts on the ground between agricultural crops farmers and livestock farmers, some conflicts occurring even within families because we have not fully addressed the issue of land tenure for livestock, he acknowledged.”
Dr Ramsammy said he is aware of the huge demand for land, including for housing but, in 2014, Guyana has come to a time when the question of land for livestock should be put and answered.
He said: “There are no ifs and buts about it. We cannot skirt around it anymore. No more Kokerits. Land tenure is a very significant issue that we must address if our vision for the livestock sub-sector is to become a reality.”
He added that developing the livestock industry to support exports is another very important challenge and he challenged the experts to work together to get legislation which would support the traceability requirements of the export market into Parliament before the year is out.
“Addressing the requirements of international markets is another pillar on which we will stand and grow.”
The programme for the one day event at Mon Repos was entitled ‘National Consultation: GLDA’s Development Policy and Livestock Development Strategy’.
It included welcoming remarks by Dr. Dindyal Permaul, Chief Executive Officer of the GLDA.
The gathering saw two power point presentations, the first entitled ‘Livestock sector strategy and Policy’ by Mr. Lennox Wilson of the GLDA and the second titled ‘GLDA strategy 2013-2033’ by Mr. Michael Welch and Ms. Monique Ifill also from GLDA and veterinarian Dr. Colbert Bowen.
There were discussions on the presentations and they will lead to the production of a document that would outline the strategies and policies to equip stakeholders in the livestock sub-sector with the skills, technologies and the enabling environment they need to take their farming to higher quantitative and qualitative levels.
Chairman of the GLDA Board of Directors, Dr. Collin James gave the closing remarks.
Written By Clifford Stanley