–Agriculture Minister says
FOLLOWING a successful trial phase and the establishment of 1,833 acres of ponds in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Guyana’s shrimp production has been increasing rapidly, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has said.

Minister Mustapha, in a recent exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, said that the brackish water shrimp project which was launched in July 2021 with 75 interested farmers, has exceeded its target of producing 10,000 kilogrammes of shrimp monthly.

“That has been a successful project in the aquaculture sector,” Mustapha said, adding that the government has recorded an increase in production over the past year.

“We have seen an improvement by over 300 per cent in aquaculture especially in brackish water shrimp, where we started out with 10,000 kilogrammes per month. We are now producing 80,000-100,000 kilogrammes monthly,” the minister said.

The project he reiterated is “a success story.”

In 2021, Minister Mustapha met with various stakeholders at the Albion Sports Complex, where he said that the government was “looking to improve shrimp farming in Berbice”.

He announced then that his ministry will be spending $58 million on shrimp ponds in Region Six to boost production.

He also reiterated that the government had been working “assiduously” to ramp up production.

Some $153 million was earned after the production of approximately 127,400 kilogrammes of shrimp between January and March 2022.

The total showed 81,740 kilogrammes more when compared to the 45,660 kilogrammes of shrimp produced during the same period in 2021, at an estimated value of $40 million.

In an effort to boost productivity, the Government of Guyana and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has partnered over the last two years to conduct a study and gather information for the piloting and implementation of a strategy to enhance shrimp production in Guyana and several other Caribbean states.

At a workshop held at the St Francis Community Centre, Port Mourant, Berbice, held back in August, Denis David, a fisheries officer attached to the ministry, told shrimp farmers that the proposed strategy will see the establishment of several action plans geared toward the enhanced production and quality of brackish water shrimp in Guyana.

The strategy is divided into four parts focusing on the promotion of an intensive model of farming, the expansion of the industry through multi-species diversification, the fostering of partnerships to strengthen trade and marketing, and the strengthening of a supportive and enabling environment for the best value chain.