BETWEEN January 2021 and June 2021, Guyana has earned in excess of $18.7 million from its livestock industry, according to Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, who provided a breakdown of the earnings.

The breakdown shows that duckling sales topped $6.8 million, while the sale of black giant chicks surpassed $2 million. However, the bulk of the country’s livestock earnings centre on the sale of ducks, cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, which total $9,898,077.

In recognising the importance and the potential of the livestock industry, the Government of Guyana has pledged to not only invest in the development of the sector, but also accommodate investments within the sector.

Already, investments in Guyana’s poultry industry have increased exponentially; available statistics show that private injections into this industry have surpassed more than US$67 million ($14.4 billion). Traditionally, the demand for outputs from the poultry industry has always been high, but the zero-rating of this commodity and other adjustments, between August and now, have created the conditions for wider investments and more lucrative results.

As a matter of fact, when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government assumed office in August 2020, efforts commenced to remove Value Added Tax (VAT) on fertilisers, agrochemicals, pesticides and key inputs in the poultry sector including poultry feed, building materials and packaging; the government also gave the poultry industry zero-rated VAT status.

Since those adjustments, there has been a stark increase in investments in this industry with about 500 new farmers getting into poultry farming between August and December, 2020, alone. Minister Mustapha has said that the increased interest in the industry augurs well for Guyana, and will supplement the growth of the country’s burgeoning oil-and-gas sector.

In his 2021 National Budget speech, Mustapha said that the measures introduced in the government’s 2020 budget initiated a reversal of all the challenges facing the livestock industry and approximately 5,000 small farmers and broiler producers.

As it is, Budget 2021 allocates GYD$806 million to the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), an increase of $46 million. With the interventions of Budget 2021, the government said that it hopes to create an environment for local producers to benefit from the increasing demand for meat coming from the thriving oil and gas companies, as well of other local businesses.

Worryingly, meat import for 2019 was pegged at $20 million, even though Guyana is self-sufficient in meat. Nonetheless, going forward, Minister Mustapha said that much emphasis will be placed on gaining access to emerging markets, especially the high-end supermarkets, hotels, as well as players within the mining and petroleum sectors.

“A certified production chain is required,” Mustapha told the National Assembly in February. He said too that GLDA has begun to design and develop an animal traceability system, and that budget 2021 will provide $14 million for its operationalisation and implementation.

“The system is fundamental to meeting food safety standards and farm certification and will help to promote export,” Mustapha said.

He also pledged the government’s commitment to ensure that all laboratories are certified and fully operational to address the needs of livestock farming and its reliant communities.

“In 2021, we will commence the construction of Sample Collection Area at Nutrition Laboratory at Mon Repos [East Coast Demerara]. This will improve laboratory processes to determine the composition of the feed and feeding material in order to formulate the best ration for the animals from locally available feed materials.”
Further, in an effort to make the livestock industry self-sufficient, the government is investing $500 million to enhance the infrastructure in the intermediate savannahs, so that the private sector would be able to invest in the large-scale production of corn and soy beans – which are used to make feed.

“If we can produce the amount of corn and soya beans required to become self-sufficient in proteins for our poultry industry, those funds can be used to further develop the sector. As a government, we are also working to reduce Guyana’s food import-bill and food-import dependency,” Minister Mustapha had said.

Guyana’s national feed consumption for the poultry industry is 113,000 tonnes annually, with ‘broilers’ consuming approximately 100,000 tonnes of feed, and ‘layers’ consuming approximately 13,000 tonnes of feed annually.

Additionally, some $29 million has been earmarked for the establishment of a modular pig slaughtering and processing facility at Garden of Eden, as the importation of pork and pork products reaches almost 66 per cent.

“Ham, bacon and sausage make up the bulk of the imports. Based on our data the swine industry is producing at 10 per cent of its true potential.

“With the introduction of the new [imported] breeder herd and with the supply of improved breeding stock to swine producers, output will increase, creating more income-generating opportunities,” Mustapha said in his budget speech.

He noted that even though COVID-19 was the main hindrance to farmers’ training in 2020, in excess of $5 million will be invested to providing virtual training for farmers in all districts.

Aside from poultry, some US$3.3 million was invested into beef production and US$670,000 into small ruminants, predominantly sheep and goats. The livestock sub-sector contributes approximately 13.6 per cent of the agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 2.8 per cent of the total GDP. Livestock is commonly defined as domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce labour and commodities such as meat, eggs and milk, among other things.

In addition to investments and earnings, the livestock are closely linked to the social and cultural lives of several million resource-poor farmers, for whom animal ownership ensures varying degrees of sustainable farming and economic stability.