THE Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) recently launched a Farmer’s Market at the Lusignan Market tarmac on the East Coast of Demerara. This is the first such market in Region Four, which brings together under a single roof farmers and consumers.

From all indications, it was a successful encounter and provided an opportunity for both farmers and consumers to benefit from better prices. The Farmers’ Market, according to Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, will be replicated in the other regions to facilitate greater interaction between consumers and farmers.

This is indeed a commendable initiative on the part of the Ministry of Agriculture coming at a time of rising food prices, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and the adverse impact of climate change on agricultural production. Only last year, the country recorded one of its highest rainfalls which resulted in severe floods and untold damage to crops and livestock. One consequence of that situation was a steep increase in the prices of agricultural produce. And, as if that were not enough, disruptions in the global food supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic only served to make matters worse, with higher than normal cost for imported food items.

Guyana is not unique to such developments. Indeed, all countries including those in the developed North have been experiencing, within recent times, substantial increases in the cost of food. The government, fully cognisant of the impact of rising prices on the cost of living, has put in place a number of interventions to cushion the impact of such increases on the Guyanese people, especially those in the lower income brackets and the more vulnerable in our society.

The Farmers’ Market is a timely and necessary intervention to reduce the price for agricultural produce on the market, while at the same time optimising the financial returns to farmers. What the Farmers’ Market is doing in effect is to do away with the financial returns of the ‘middle man,’ who buys the produce directly from farmers at source and then sells the produce to retailers at significantly higher markups, thereby adding to the cost of the commodity on the market.

It is not uncommon for the middleman to enjoy a much higher margin of profits than the actual producers, especially during periods of market gluts when farmers would get reduced prices for their produce, sometimes below production costs. Interestingly, these depressed prices paid to farmers are not reflected — at least not proportionately — in market prices, resulting in a situation in which both farmers and consumers receive, as it were, the raw end of the stick.

As noted by the Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha, the Farmers’ Market is a win-win situation for both the farmers and consumers. Farmers can get the best prices for their produce that the market can offer, while at the same time consumers can benefit from fresh agricultural produce at much cheaper prices. These are not exactly the best of times and as the saying goes, ‘a penny saved is a penny gained.’

The Farmers’ Market is important in other ways as well. It serves to showcase our agricultural potential as the breadbasket of the Caribbean, especially at a time when Guyana has a lead role in Caribbean agriculture and when there is heightened focus on the country as a significant player in the global market place. Guyana currently holds lead responsibility for agriculture, agricultural diversification and food security in CARICOM and is playing a key role in the quest to reduce its US$5B food-import bill. This development, apart from foreign-exchange savings, could potentially put more money into the hands of our farmers.

President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has made it abundantly clear that even as oil is now an important contributor to the national economy, it will not be done at the expense of the other sectors, especially the agricultural sector. Indeed, Guyana is now an important contributor to regional food security at a time of growing food shortages and escalating food prices.

The PPP/C administration must be given credit for putting our farmers at the centre of our national development efforts and for raising the profile of agriculture as the cornerstone of the economy. This is one sure way to avoid the dreaded ‘Dutch Disease,’ which has afflicted several oil-producing nations.