THE month of October is designated Agriculture Month. The theme for this year’s Agriculture Month is ‘Transforming our Food Systems: Achieving Food and Nutritional Security.’

Guyana is endowed with rich agricultural lands and agriculture has traditionally been one of the country’s main economic activities. However, due to mismanagement of the sector by the PNC administration after it took power in 1964, the sector was systematically destroyed, in particular the two critical areas of sugar and rice. Such was the extent of the deterioration that at one time Guyana was forced to import both sugar and rice to meet local consumption needs.

This year’s observances are taking place against the background of a raging COVID-19 pandemic and severe floods which destroyed a significant amount of our agricultural production capacity. However, the sector was able to overcome the challenges, thanks to the proactive measures taken by the PPP/C administration to bring relief to farmers who were affected by the floods and the prompt action taken by the relevant agencies to repair the damaged infrastructure.

Agriculture Month provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the importance of agriculture to the national economy and the enormous contributions made by our farmers to grow food not only for us in Guyana, but also for the Caribbean, North America and other parts of the world. Once a breadbasket of the Caribbean, the agricultural sector suffered due to the vindictive and short-sighted policies of the then APNU+AFC regime, which saw the closure of several grinding sugar estates.

The records will show than under the PPP/C administration agriculture blossomed and at one time was the main source of foreign exchange earnings and employment generation. The current administration has re-committed itself to restoration of the sector to its former status as a pillar of the economy, even as the country has now become an oil-producing nation. The administration has made it abundantly clear, however, that oil will not supplant the existing agro-based nature of the economy, but will be complementary to existing production structures. Many oil-producing nations have made the mistake of de-emphasising the agricultural sector, resulting in what is known as the “Dutch Disease.”

According to President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali during his message to mark the commencement of Agriculture Month, the agricultural sector is on a transformative pathway and can become the ‘agricultural heartland’ of the English-speaking Caribbean. He vowed to re-position the agricultural sector to provide food to the Region to a point where it is envisaged to bring down the food-import bill by some 25 per cent. This is indeed a laudable and forward-looking initiative by the Guyanese leader, especially in the context of the rising cost of imported food.

According to the Guyanese leader, the envisaged transformation of the local agricultural sector will involve an inclusive approach, one that will allow for the active participation of government and the private sector and the continued engagements with farmers, agriculturalists, agronomists, veterinarians, food exporters, importers, academia, the scientific community and other stakeholders. Agriculture, President Ali said, “is on a transformative pathway and an exciting future lies ahead. Agriculture Month 2021 is an opportunity for us to plan and prepare for the future”.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who emphasised the need for the country to adapt to technological changes to raise productivity levels and ensure a better product quality. According to the minister, we need forward-thinking, game-changing approaches for agri-food system transformation, in addition to being more innovative in order to have high uptakes in technologies to transform and modernise the sector.

This is indeed forward-looking thinking on the part of our leaders, who must be commended for the pro-active stance they have taken to push the sector to new levels. Our farmers are also deserving of our commendation for staying the course, even in the face of the several challenges faced over the decades. As a society, we owe them all a debt of gratitude for rising to the challenges and making food available to us and the wider community.