–as government aims to ramp up production

THE government is one step closer to achieving its target of doubling the country’s production of brackish water shrimp from 250,000 to 500,000 kilograms by 2025, with the completion of 63 out of 74 ponds in Region Six.

The Ministry of Agriculture’s Fisheries Department, with assistance from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), had commenced construction of 74 ponds for the rearing of brackish water shrimp with the aim of transforming the country’s aquaculture industry.

The construction of 74 ponds forms phase one of the project to increase the shrimp production. Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, said the remaining 11 ponds are 85 per cent completed.

“We are doing the earthworks and installation of tubes to assist with providing sufficient water supply to the ponds. Currently, there are three machines working at different locations to complete these works as soon as possible,” Mustapha said.

Aquaculture, a component of the agriculture sector, is the process of rearing, breeding and harvesting of aquatic species, both animals and plants, in controlled aquatic environments like the oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds and streams. Aquaculture in Guyana occurs in both brackish and freshwater earthen ponds from extensive to semi-intensive operations

During a past interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Minister Mustapha said that aquaculture shows strong potential in Guyana, highlighting that the country has all the necessary resources to develop a thriving aquaculture sector.

“Aquaculture in Guyana shows strong potential since the country has relatively large acres of flat lands with suitable soil types and access to large quantities and good quality freshwater (water conservancies) … more so, there are existing drainage and irrigation infrastructure in some areas, sub-tropical temperatures for shrimp and fish production and good availability of agricultural/ fisheries by-products for the formulation and manufacturing of aqua feed,” he said.

Earlier in the year, Minister Mustapha met with various stakeholders at the Albion Sports Complex, where he stressed that the government is “looking to improve shrimp farming in Berbice” and announced that his ministry will be spending $58 million on shrimp ponds in Region Six to boost production.

“We are doing this not only to increase your livelihood in terms of income, we are doing this to increase the capacity of the shrimp production in Region Six and at the same time you will also create employment for people,” he said.

The government, through its updated inland and aquaculture strategy 2021-2026, plans to address the challenges plaguing the aquaculture industry and create an enabling and sustainable environment for investments geared towards the sector.

Speaking at the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) 26th Annual Presentation of Awards Ceremony at the Ramada Princess Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara on December 3, 2021, President Dr. Irfaan Ali highlighted that “there is a misconception of what modern agro-processing and agriculture is.”

The Head of State said that based on his interactions with overseas-based Guyanese, “swamp shrimp” – which is locally produced – is a “niche market” in the Guyanese diaspora, however, the country was not satisfying 50 per cent of the market.

“I came back and I asked the Minister of Agriculture what is this thing about swamp shrimp, then I realised that it is the most sought-after shrimp in our diaspora and we were not even satisfying 50 per cent of the diaspora market for swamp shrimp … This is a niche market for us, we don’t even need to do any marketing,” he said.

Amid this, the Head of State encouraged the entrepreneurs to form strategic partnerships which will inevitably make the requisite resources available to them to pursue massive transformation and growth, and has pledged his government’s support to ensuring the development of industries.

“So what we did immediately? We took resources, we called all the farmers in swamp shrimp together and we said we will help you put the infrastructure in place, we are going to build the lab, we’re going to build the hatchery, up your production and today we have a massive project going on in Region Six,” he said.