MINISTER of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha used World Food Day 2022, observed annually on October 16, to emphasise the need for Guyana to act now to create the environment to achieve its potential of feeding the entire Caribbean region.

He spoke during a related event on the Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) where the activity was celebrated under the theme, “Leave no one behind… Better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life for all.”

Minister Mustapha pointed out that Guyana is now ideally positioned to provide the food and nutrition security that is vital for the Caribbean and beyond.
He recalled that over the last two years, “Government has worked above and beyond to strategically place Guyana on the road that leads the agriculture agenda,” underlining the importance of CARICOM’s ‘Vision 25,’ led by Guyana, that aims to reduce the region’s food- import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.

The minister said, “championing food security and leaving no one behind requires development beyond the traditional agriculture,” including “different actions from the business as usual.”
Saying too that “exceptional times call for exceptional actions,” he also noted that Guyana’s agricultural sector “must be expanded, diversified and modernised, and made resilient, to be a competitive sector in Guyana and in CARICOM.”

The minister repeated the many initiatives taken and plans on the table and in the pipeline in the past 25 months to enhance agriculture at home with the aim of feeding the nation. Added to that, there is a thrust to realize that long-held dream of Guyana – by far and wide the region’s largest and most agriculturally productive — being more than just referred to as possibly becoming ‘the region’s breadbasket.’
Virtually everything CARICOM consumes is or can be grown in Guyana, alongside products unique to the Guianas (such as shrimp and fresh-water fish), in addition to traditional products such as rice and sugar, as well as poultry and livestock, plus manufactured value-added exports.

Guyana’s vast water resources add to the potential for regional marketing of an increasingly valuable and shrinking resource necessary for life.
Guyana isn’t out to compete with national producers in CARICOM, but rather, to complement their productive capacities by combining productive and consumption possibilities in win-win projects that will leave both and all sides happy.

Looking ahead, the minister last Sunday also outlined several plans that will strengthen local capacity to eventually feed the nation – and the region.
These projects target increasing rice production by 25 per cent by the year 2025; increasing sugar production to 100,000 tonnes in the next three years; opening up of over 150,000 acres of new lands for cultivation in the Number 58 Village, Corentyne area; increasing technology and mechanisation by 15 per cent; cultivation of 25,000 acres of corn and soya by 2025; producing feed for the livestock industry and expanding the coconut industry by 15 per cent, among others.

Production of such a large acreage of corn following the government’s earlier indication of planning to go into wheat production in a big way after the best varieties for this climate are identified, is another indication of this administration always thinking and planning for taking care of home needs, as well as looking beyond Guyana’s borders. This, of course, is in keeping with the republic’s commitment to the best mutually beneficial partnerships possible with its regional neighbours.

After 25 months of taking charge of ensuring Guyana and CARICOM’s Food Security by 2025, President, Dr Irfaan Ali and his PPP/Civic administration continue to show the difference between governing for some and governing for all at home, while always looking beyond clouds and near horizons to also contribute to the common good of humanity in the Guianas, CARICOM and the world.