ON behalf of the Government and People of Guyana, I extend a special World Food Day 2015 greetings to all of Guyana. This year’s event is being held under the theme: ‘Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty.’ I am especially heartened that food and nutrition security through the eradication of Rural Poverty is being given prominence this year.Agriculture and agriculture-related issues continue to dominate the international trade agenda as feeding the world is one of the most important challenges confronting us today, which governments, policymakers, international development partners and citizens as a whole must work to address.
* EL NINO (drought-like conditions)
Climate Change is another threat facing countries at large with Guyana being no exception. In fact, we are already seeing the impacts of Climate Change with our quest to source water to supply agricultural production as the country is presently faced with an El Nino situation.
It is crucial at this time that food security is kept on the front burner, considering the fact that the Region’s food-import bill is rapidly increasing. This is indeed an opportune time to showcase what we are doing in Guyana and the Caribbean and how we are using agriculture as a vehicle to attain a food-secure status and to address other needs.
Such interventions are necessary if we are to successfully address El Nino- to ensure that our farmers’ livelihoods are not lost. Irrigation remains important. Important due to the fact that water remains a crucial component for plant growth and development. As such, the Ministry of Agriculture is emphasising that farmers need to use water efficiently.

Since the food crisis of 2007-8, many countries have renewed their commitment to eradicating hunger in the world and improving livelihoods. But in some cases concrete political, programme and financial support are lagging behind verbal commitments. The opportunity that the food-price spikes of 2007-2008 might have provided a pathway out of poverty for small producers, was not realised.
Evidence shows that those strong cooperatives and producer organisations are able to overcome these constraints and to mitigate the negative effects of food and other crises. Strong producer organisations have helped to fill a void. They have been able to overcome market and policy constraints by providing their members access to a range of assets and services. For instance, they can reduce costs to farmers by allowing them to purchase in groups and benefit from better retail prices of agricultural inputs. They also make it possible for members to voice their concerns and interests – and to play a role in decision and policy making processes.
I trust that this year’s World Food Day call will aid to further catapult agriculture to the forefront, raise the community’s awareness of the importance of the sector to national and regional development, and create opportunities for greater collaboration and interaction among CARICOM member states and with their extra-regional partners.
I urge regional governments to go beyond the usual rhetoric and take the appropriate action that will see high levels of investments in the agriculture sector, aimed at modernising, transforming and making it more competitive.
Guyana has shown that agriculture is serious business, it is time for others to follow suit. Guyana is open for investment in agribusiness. The Santa Fe farm in the Rupununi and NF Agriculture Inc at Ebini are classic examples of the investments in agriculture we have been promoting in partnership with Caribbean investors.
As a government, we are committed to redoubling our efforts to address the challenges within the rice and sugar industries by not only securing new markets, but by also addressing some of the challenges in the sugar industry, ensuring that it remains viable.

On World Food Day (celebrated yesterday) we reflect on where we are and where we want to go. Guyana as you know is a food-secure country, but there are pockets of food insecurity which we need to address. Our government has made a commitment to provide a good life to all our citizens and I believe agriculture has a major role to play in this regard.
I remain convinced that agriculture can be a pillar on which we build a sustainable and resilient economy to bring equity, prosperity and social justice for all of our people. Agriculture as you know continues to be the backbone of our economy and contributes significantly to food and nutrition security, creation of jobs and export earnings.
Data provided by the FAO indicates that 75 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas and 90 percent of them are smallholders. Furthermore, the 21st century added new challenges to resource-poor smallholders as a consequence of global climate change.
On World Food Day, I urge all to join Guyana in the fight to end world hunger and boost production and export of non-traditional commodities by catapulting on new and emerging markets. Collectively, we can end hunger in our lifetime.