AS construction advances on the modern $600 million abattoir at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice, Region Five, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali conducted a thorough inspection of the state-of-the-art facility, on Wednesday.

President Ali was joined by the Ministry of Agriculture’s Director General, Madanlall Ramraj and several officials from the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI).

The abattoir will modernise Guyana’s meat processing capabilities and bring it up to international standards. It will also open up new markets for Guyana’s beef and boost the income of cattle farmers while creating valuable employment opportunities.

When completed, the facility will become the main slaughtering area for cattle in the country as Region Five is poised to become the hub for the ‘cattle industry’.
Meanwhile, the head of state inspected ongoing works on the site for a hydroponics farm. The farm’s foundation totalling 8,000 square feet is already completed.

He also toured the modern agro-processing facility at Fort Wellington and encouraged the private sector to get involved.
“Let’s get the Guyana Manufacturing Services Association (GMSA); let them come here and let us give them the facility to start with the farmers in Region Five…They [are] going to bring their equipment and it want it fully operationalised by next week,” he stressed.

President Ali also toured the $16.4 million model farm in Fort Wellington.
This farm allows farmers, potential farmers, and extension officers from the region to have access to facilities and equipment to design and implement research programmes aligned with technological advancements and the government’s vision for the sector.

It comprises a storage room, shade house, cattle pen, composting house, Vermi and thermophilic composting huts, small ruminants pen, Black Giant Pen and swine pens as well as demonstration plots for orchards and high-value crops such as bell pepper.

All these initiatives tie in with Guyana’s, and by extension – CARICOM – efforts in achieving self-sufficiency and slash the over US$5 billion import bill by 25 per cent by the year 2025. (DPI)