– President Ali says

THE Government of Guyana has offered some 200 acres of land in Guyana to India for exclusive millet production, and President Dr. Irfaan Ali says that local farmers will play a major role in this venture.

The Head of State made this revelation on Tuesday during a press conference hosted at State House, where he spoke on the positive outcomes of his recent seven-day visit to India.

Millets are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food.

During his time in India, Dr. Ali offered 200 acres of land for millet production in honour of the United Nations declaring 2023 as the year of the Millet.

Millets are a group of small-seeded grasses grown around the world as cereal, the grains are usually ground into flour to make various foods.

During the conference, President Ali highlighted that millet is a new product that India is using that is highly nutritional and adds not only nutritional value but is suitable for diabetics and also serves as a replacement for high-carb types of grain like rice.

He went on to say that the production of millet can open Guyana to a bigger market as an exporter of these types of products, as he added that India has a very large diaspora.

“So, one of the things that we can utilise is that the power of that diaspora, the market that exists for millet with India pushing this. So, we’re looking to see how we can collaborate and how we can work together in terms of the production of millet here in Guyana,” the President said.

When the Guyana Chronicle asked President Ali how soon these 200 acres are to be identified, he noted that the authorities had already begun looking at suitable areas for this production.

He noted, too, that they will be bringing together local farmers to see how those 200 acres can be used experimentally, while India will provide support with the technology for the production.

Adding to this, the Head of State clarified that the lands would provide an entire ecosystem around it, including planting for production and even processing for products that can be derived from millet.

While in India, Dr. Ali had asked the Indian Minister of Agriculture to send a team of experts to set up millet farms in Guyana, even as he noted that assistance would be provided in producing and promoting grain in the Caribbean and Latin America.