By Feona Morrison

WITH the increasing global demand for seafood, Guyana is in a unique position to capitalise on the enormous potential of aquaculture and has the potential to meet both domestic and global demand, says President Dr Irfaan Ali.

In this week’s episode of the Energy Perspectives Podcast, he shared his thoughts and outlined his government’s goals to move Guyana forward and maintain ‘green’ leadership globally.

President Ali stressed that Guyana is willing to collaborate with investors and that his government is eager to do so in order to capture 25 per cent of the United States’ US$4billion aquaculture market.

“So, how are we going to do that? We need the capital, we need the technology, we need our local farmers to work with the capital and technology and get to the position where we by 2027, were taking up 25 per cent of the aquaculture market in the US,” said the Guyanese leader.

Some $1.2billion has been set aside to improve the fisheries and aquaculture sector in 2024, with a greater emphasis on boosting productivity in the agricultural sector. The nation’s goals for food security and economic growth are significantly aided by the fisheries sector, which includes aquaculture. The fishing industry, which currently contributes $11.9 billion to Guyana’s annual exports, constituting around six percent of the country’s overall export earnings.

The government will also make investments in other agricultural goods, according to President Ali.

“We are working on the development of a regional food hub, linking it to northern Brazil,” he said, pointing out that Guyana has the potential to be the region’s main food hub.

In order to boost market access, work on the regional food hub will continue in 2024.

This work will support the food-supply chain and production operations, such as cold storage and manufacturing processing capabilities. At a cost of US$14 million, the hub is being constructed alongside the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

Furthermore, Guyana is poised to emerge as not just the foremost exporter but also as a hub for agriculture, serving as CARICOM’s food basin or hub.

Consequently, the food hub will align with this precise goal and play a major role in the nation’s leadership in cutting the CARICOM food- import cost by 25 percent by 2025.

Regarding the sugar business, he stated that a proposal from a company to turn the defunct Enmore Sugar Estate into a refinery is being considered by the government. “So, they will take brown sugar, refine it to white sugar and other processed sugar to be exported.”

The Enmore Sugar Estate on the East Coast of Demerara is one of the four estates that were closed during the David Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition government’s tenure.

The Head of State reasoned that the country’s prospects and the declining cost of power are the reasons for all of these opportunities.