TWENTY farmers from various communities were, on Thursday, recipients of sows, one each for the purpose of boosting swine rearing and pork production as a part of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) genetic improvement programme.

At a simple handing over ceremony at GLDA’s head office at Mon-Repo, East Coast Demerara, Kester Trim, one of the beneficiaries, told the Guyana Chronicle that he is anticipating a major boost in his livestock production with the donation.

“I feel good and to know that it is a new breed, is nice to know because we will get to multiply the production,” he said.

Trim also owns a small cash crop farm where he produces a variety of vegetables.

Sharing similar sentiments was Padmawtie Shadeo and Chatterpaul Harrichand. The husband-and-wife duo maintain a livestock and cash crop farm, together.

Shadeo, in an invited comment, expressed her gratitude to the Ministry of Agriculture for the support given to farmers.

“I’m thankful and happy, I want to thank the Government and the minister, I’m so excited, I’m excited for the new breeding,” the woman said.

With the donation and plans for further breeding, the woman signalled her intention to extend her pen.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha in his address, told the gathering that Guyana is currently leading the Caribbean in the agriculture sector and continuous efforts are being made to ensure the country achieves its goal of being food secure and reducing the food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.

The ministry has been making significant strides in ramping up food production,
“We know for a fact that we are continuously working to develop the poultry industry, we want to be a net exporter. We want to increase swine production. We want to increase and develop cattle, beef and dairy production; we want to develop the small ruminants production,” he said.

There is a renewed interest in the country’s agriculture sector, he said.

“We are seeing now a renewed interest in this agriculture sector. We are seeing more demand for people to get into the agriculture sector. Why? Because of the programme we have started and the works we are doing amongst the farmers and population.”

People, he said are becoming cognisant of the importance of agriculture, the importance of producing food and the importance of food security.

“We can have all the money in the world, if we don’t have food, then we’ll starve,” the minister added.

Also giving brief remarks, the ministry’s Director-General and GLDA Chairman, Madanlall Ramraj said the swine production target this year is 4,200.

This, he said will be met before the projected deadline.

“We have a target of 4,200 swallows to be produced by the end of 2022. To date, we are over 3,000 and we hope, long before the end of the year we’ll complete that target,” Ramraj said.