OVER the last century, the world’s population has quadrupled. Today, according to the most recent estimate by the UN, there are 7.8 billion people — and we may reach 9.7 billion by 2050. This situation is driving up the demand for food and as more countries like China, Mexico, India, and Brazil expand their spending power, the outcome would be a greater demand for higher quality foods.

According to the International Association of Agricultural Economist, food demand is expected to increase anywhere between 59 per cent to 88 per cent by 2050.
Farmers worldwide will need to increase crop production, either by increasing the amount of agricultural land to grow crops or by enhancing productivity on existing agricultural lands through using more fertilizer, using more genetically modified seeds, greater harvesting of scare water resources, and adopting new methods like precision farming. But some of these scientific interventions are proving to not be as healthy as we thought and more people are hunting for niche products that are more organic and more naturally grown.

This is where Guyana comes in. We have land, we have water, we have the right climate and we have a people willing to take the risks once they are assured that they have a pro-production government with the right models of empowerment. It is imperative that the new PPP/C Government engages on timely institutional reforms in the agriculture sector to enable an export market-driven environment. What the farmers want is a vision and a plan and timely investments in the rural infrastructure to inspire them to till more land. This is where projects like the completion of the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Scheme (MMA-ADA) should be relooked with a serious eye.

The most promising direction for any future agricultural development in this country must be focused on increasing and diversifying production of table-ready food products and we can only do this efficiently and effectively using a system of plantation agriculture. The basic problem in the development of plantation agriculture is the need for costly infrastructure to provide drainage and irrigation for the land. If done skillfully, it is estimated that over the next 15 to 20 years, major drainage and irrigation projects can reclaim easily between 100,000 to 150,000 acres more for the farmers, especially in the MMA area.
Additionally, with the construction of the Del Conte Road, along the Essequibo River and the opening up of the Berbice River areas, this country can easily add another 100,000 acres of arable lands, which, today, is almost completely unused except for some small cultivation. It is on these sorts of project that has real sustainable wealth for this nation.

In 2017, the most senior agriculture official in Guyana then, Mr. Noel Holder, stated that the Ministry of Agriculture has made a decision to go ahead with the commencement of Phase II of the MMA Project that runs between the Abary River and the Mahaicony River. But with the former Granger regime, it was all talk and no action.

In a public comment, the general manager of the MMA-ADA said that the conservancy dam is being built that will run across the Mahaicony River and that a sluice would also be built to regulate the water flows. He said this project is for the development of the agricultural land between the Abary and Mahaicony rivers to assist with drainage and irrigation. According to him, the conservancy dam would lead to the watershed between the Mahaica and Mahaicony rivers. He said the project would also entail the construction of the main irrigation canal between the Mahaicony and Abary rivers as well as a main canal head regulator, which would control the outflow of water from the conservancy into the main canal.

He further stated that there would also be the construction of secondary canals that would service agricultural lands. These secondary canals, he said, would link to the main canal. Flood embankments would also be constructed along the left bank of the Abary River as well as along the right bank of the Mahaicony River.
It is projects like these that would provide real wealth to our people for the next century. In light of a senior oil executive threatening to pull his investments from Guyana, we as a people must remind him of the words of Eric Williams, former Prime Minister of Trinidad, who once stated that “oil don’t spoil”. This nation’s salvation lies in the production of table ready high-quality food products and we must not get confused about this fact.