‘Food products not fuel products’
President David Granger waters a plant
President David Granger waters a plant

…President Granger talks up food security through agro-processing

PRESIDENT David Granger, on Friday, emphasised the importance of this country remaining food-secure when he addressed hundreds at the National Tree Day exercise at Number 53 Village – Union Sports and Cultural Complex in East Berbice, Corentyne.

The Head of State, while expressing confidence in returning to office following National Elections on March 2, 2020, stated that the coalition government will utilise funds from oil revenues to boost other sectors, especially agriculture.

“Food Products not fuel products will remain the mainstay of our economy. Petroleum revenues are welcomed but will be deployed to modernise the agriculture and other sectors of development,” the Guyanese leader told the gathering. While noting that East Berbice alone can supply the entire eastern Caribbean with enough food through its abundance of fertile lands, President Granger pointed to agro-processing to add value and making this a reality.

“Agro processing can add value to our primary products and help this country and this region to be more prosperous. Tree based agro processing can ensure greater food security by increasing our exports and adding more value to our food production while reducing market uncertainties associated with primary produce.”

The Head of State noted that Guyana exported US$8M in fruits and vegetables in 2018. This figure, he stressed, is well below the potential that Guyana has to offer and based on economists’ calculations, with a more robust agro-processing programmer, that figure should be somewhere around US$250M annually instead. “We can be exporting more in agricultural produce than rice and sugar in value.

We are talking about a new chapter in our hinterland and rural economies. We can go more robustly in the packaging and bottling of foods and drinks using modern equipment on a large scale. That is one of the elements in our policy to ensure food security by reducing food imports and increasing exports particularly in processed form,” President Granger said.
The President said to help achieve this objective, the government will be offering financial incentives to investors that are interested in promoting export-oriented agro-processing, as it has the potential to transform the entire economy. “It improves food security by stimulating increased demand for food production by reducing crop losses due to spoilage. But most of all it would improve and increase farmers income and we could employ more of our young people and reduce poverty in our villages. ”

He continued, “Agro-processing has the potential to transform rural and hinterland communities and to augment the national product. When value is added to the primary production, the export value is increased, exports are stimulated and foreign exchange is generated.”

President Granger stated that the need for agro-processing on a larger scale cannot be underscored enough as it has the potential to start a revolution where products that would have otherwise gone to waste will now become a source of income. He made reference to fruits in different communities that are left to rot while in other communities that same fruit is being imported from another country.

The President stated that his government will launch a Decade of Development in 2020. He stated that agro-processing plays a critical role in that development of which the ‘Green State Development Strategy’ is also a key component. That strategy, he said, is the roadmap to making Guyana a ‘green’ state as well as the roadmap to food security.

“Next year we know petroleum will start to flow but don’t let us get drunk on oil, let us remain sober because we want to make sure during that decade of development every section, every sector, every segment of our economy and society will benefit from economic development. The objective of the Decade of Development is not to share out oil money, it is to make Guyana economically reliable and self-sufficient.

So Guyanese you can look forward to this decade of Development which will lay the foundation for sustained progress and prosperity but also a decade that will be based on agricultural development.”

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.