FARMERS in Guyana can soon look forward to having better insurance for their crops and other produce as discussions are underway between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Caribbean insurance firm, Grace Kennedy.

At a meeting over the weekend with farmers in Region Six, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, disclosed that the ministry was also in talks with a local firm to establish insurance packages for farmers to safeguard their produce in the event of a loss.

“I have started to discuss with Grace Kennedy, the Caribbean insurance company and also a local company to see if they could ensure our farmers’ crops so that if they lose, they can have reimbursement. “

Mustapha noted that that initiative was among several plans the ministry was looking at to protect the interest of farmers.

Back in 2021, President Dr. Irfaan Ali had declared Guyana to be in a state of disaster by virtue of the ongoing floods at the time.

In June of that year, a total of 28,228 households were affected by flooding, some with water entering their homes, domestic animals and livestock in distress, or farmlands inundated.

The floods, caused by heavy rainfall, resulted in some 300 communities being directly affected for a protracted period of time. An assessment showed that the agriculture sector was most affected, with some 92,000 acres of farm and farmlands completely affected, and approximately $23 billion or more in loss of production.

The sugar industry suffered estimated losses of more than $1.5 billion in the fields, while more than 50 per cent of mining operations were affected.

The rice industry had seen the loss of approximately 50,000 acres of produce with more than 2,000 farmers affected. Some 2,000 livestock farmers were also affected.
The National Assembly subsequently approved a supplemental budgetary allocation of $10 million to provide immediate interventions to farmers and other citizens who were gravely affected by the floods.

Farmers within the context of a homestead had received $100,000 each; those with kitchen gardens received $50,000 each, and households excluding homestead and kitchen garden received 50,000 each.

Other support in the form of seeds, tools and other incentives were provided to farmers.

The supplementary fund for flooding had also facilitated the execution of critical emergency repairs to a number of public infrastructures such as roads and bridges that had been destroyed by the unprecedented levels of floodwaters.