The Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST), in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce on Wednesday launched an initiative to build a commercial facility in Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) for the production of breakfast cereals from rice. The launch was attended by President Donald Ramotar and First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar as well as Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Mrs Yvonne Hinds and ministers Irfaan Ali, Ashni Singh, Leslie Ramsammy, Ali Baksh and Juan Edghill. Government will invest Guyana $75M into the project, for a facility which would have the capacity to produce five tonnes of breakfast cereals daily. The funding is secured under the Rural Development Fund administered by the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce.

Director of IAST, Professor Suresh Narine, commented: “This is the first of a series of innovative projects at the IAST that will be commercialised within the next 10 months, and I am delighted that this, the first of the series, focuses on adding value to rice to produce a nutritious, tasty and high-value product. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Minister Ali for his partnership and vision in collaborating with the institute to make this commercialisation possible.”

Minister Ali said: “In keeping with this year’s theme for GuyExpo, ‘Transformation through Partnership’, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce is delighted to take the lead in collaborating with the IAST to ensure rural development, value-adding to our agricultural commodities, and the creation of more than 60 jobs in Region 2.”  By taking the lead on this project, the minister clearly was able to “walk the talk” when he encouraged patrons during his speech at the opening ceremonies of GuyExpo to take risk so as to create wealth.

Among the beaming and visibly delighted dignitaries, Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy also joined the others in commending IAST for its role in fostering innovation and further indicated that this project fits in perfectly with the vision the Ministry of Agriculture has been advocating – the utilisation of science and technology for the adding of value to our agricultural commodities, not only for the production of nutritious food, but also for the production of other useful and valuable products.

Similar words of encouragement and commendation were echoed by the other speakers, which included Dr Ashni Singh, Minister of Finance and Prime Minister Hinds.

President Ramotar, in his comments, congratulated IAST for its efforts and pointed out that in his opinion there were many other innovative processes developed by the Institute that justifies additional commercialisation activity. The President visited the institute approximately six weeks ago and was impressed by the number and spectrum of projects underway at the institute.

The institute began a market survey last night at GuyExpo to evaluate the product. Already, based on approximately 200 taste testers from among the public, the product, which is currently either chocolate or molasses flavoured, has received almost unanimously positive reviews.