Milk is one of those foods with which consumers worldwide are concerned.  They would like  to know country of origin of imported milk products, a breakdown of the food components of the product, the price and above all the standard of the milk.  Today, most of the milk consumed in Guyana is powdered milk of varying qualities.

Until about 1970, fresh milk was in predominant use.  There were a large number of small dairy farmers with usually ten cows or less settled in the villages in the vicinity of Georgetown such as La Penitence, Ruimveldt and Bel Air.  These farmers themselves delivered the milk and were the milkmen.  Every morning, they would be cycling about the city with two large aluminium cans filled with milk delivering milk to customers or selling to the members of the public who would have called out to them,.   In the countryside, the milkman would be walking about the village selling his milk or oftentimes,  fellow villagers would call at his home to collect the milk they required.

By the 1970s, the supply of fresh milk began to dry up, especially in Georgetown since the farmers emigrated because of severe political and economic pressures and also because the Housing Drive began to take in all the open spaces in the surrounding villages as Ruimveldt, La Penitence and Bel Air and other open spaces used as grazing land.  The population took to using powdered milk but just at this juncture, the country was afflicted with a severe foreign exchange shortage and could only sporadically import powdered milk.  Owing to the foreign exchange shortage, only the cheapest, and accordingly, the lowest grade milk was imported.  In these cheap milk, the dairy or animal protein was extracted and vegetable protein was used.

The cheapest powdered milk was imported in 50-pound paper bags mostly from Ireland and Holland and it was this milk that was bagged off and sold in the markets and roadside stalls.  In repacking milk, a sterilised room has to be used or the milk would be affected by bacteria which multiply at a rapid rate in milk products.  In Guyana, there are no facilities to test milk to ascertain whether its protein is animal or vegetable or the percentage of such protein in the milk.  During these years, consumers were forced to buy substandard milk at comparatively high prices.

It, therefore, came as a very welcome and pleasant surprise when Go-Invest, a few weeks ago, announced that a Canadian Milk Company was investing in a plant to produce pasteurised milk in its first phase of development and that in its second phase, it would produce yogurts, flavoured milk and some cheese.  The plant which is registered as Amaya Milk Company would be established at Onverwagt in Region 5, Mahaica-Berbice, a milk-producing area.

The Memorandum of Understanding which was signed by Dr Peter Ramsaroop, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Go-Invest and Mr Omkaar Sharma, CEO of Amaya Milk Company has as its main clause that ‘Amaya Milk Company will establish a milk plant to process, bottle and sell high quality pasteurised cow’s milk in the Guyana market’.

Mr Sharma pointed out that he would be bringing a great deal of personal experience and expertise to the project: “I have worked on milk plants in Canada, the US and the Caribbean Region and have always desired to put that knowledge and experience towards the development of the dairy industry in Guyana. . .  It is wanting to provide nutritious milk and while the initial target will be the local market, as we grow, we are eyeing the regional market and hopefully, could reverse the trend of buying most of our dairy products from abroad. . . ”

Mr Omkaar Sharma went on to say that he expects the machinery and equipment for the plant would be in the country by mid-May,2021 and he will then construct the building.  “At Amaya Milk Company”, said Mr Sharma, “we will be producing fresh pasteurised milk in a state-of-the-art milk plant, utilising cutting edge technology, along with stringent quality standards, to produce milk of unmatched quality . . . We are expecting phase two of the project will commence in about two years. . . The challenge we have now is that we do not have enough milk to support a large facility but as we get up on the supply side to feed the plant, it will be expanded.”

Dr Peter Ramsaroop, CEO of Go-Invest, remarked: “That Amaya Milk Company is seeking to establish its operations here in Guyana is indeed a pioneering move that is timely and relevant.  This investment is precisely the kind we want to see coming from the Diaspora. . .One of our aims at Go-Invest is to foster Diaspora investment in the agricultural value chain in small and medium-sized agri-businesses”.  Dr Ramsaroop then pointed out that there is still much room for other investors in the dairy industry: “We are looking for investors who will expand the industry in other parts of the country . . . the overall dairy industry is a lucrative market for investors and we expect to see more like this in the near future”. . .

The Amaya Milk plant is important to Guyana in several ways: It is providing direct employment for scores of persons and indirect employment for hundreds of others,  Dairy farmers would now be able to expand their farms and incomes.  The Amaya investment will attract other investors and Dr Ramsaroop’s optimism that other investors will follow is justified.  It will provide import substitution and save Guyana US $35 million foreign exchange drain.  But probably the greatest benefit Amaya would have brought Guyana would be the replacement of the poor standard milk by fresh first quality and this would result in a healthier population with consumers getting value for money.