-President Ali highlights major plans for agriculture sector
-Mulls experimentation with organic sugar; marketing of liquid sugar being examined

AS the Caribbean continues to tackle food security challenges and rising food prices, President, Dr Irfaan Ali, on Friday, outlined actions and critical areas of intervention that will bolster the region’s agriculture sector.

The Caribbean has remained serious about attaining vision ‘25 by 2025,’ a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) strategy aimed at reducing the region’s food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025 and on that note, President Ali said that it is not a “talk shop” when it comes to what is being done for agriculture.

During the launch of the Regional Economic Agri-Insurance Programme (REAP) at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Dr Ali, who is also the Lead Head of Government with responsibility for Agriculture and Food Security in CARICOM, first highlighted that Guyana’s cocoa and coffee industry were being revived.

According to President Ali, the soil analysis, research and technical work have already been completed, to the point where the region that will facilitate the regeneration of cocoa and coffee has already been identified.

He added that this would now provide the capability to create a processing facility, have self-sufficiency and also reach some niche markets.

Further, Dr Ali said that the region lacks a data facility. However, he noted that works are ongoing with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and Guyana is financing a regional data centre, which will house historical and current data and analyse future trends.

“When people say, what are we doing in agriculture? It’s not a talk shop. These are actual examples of what is ongoing; we are working,” President Ali said.

Further, he emphasised the importance of technology and noted that Guyana has committed itself to sugar for regional and national security. However, the modern production process requires technology.

Despite Guyana’s sugar industry being battered under the previous APNU+AFC government, President Ali’s administration has breathed life back into the industry.

Dr. Ali said that approximately 60 per cent of Guyana’s mechanised land has been converted for planting and harvesting.

“So, we’re looking to move towards 100 per cent mechanisation. This will not only reduce costs of production, but it will increase productivity…” he explained.

Further, President Ali stated that, by the end of 2025, the industry will produce close to 160,000 tonnes of sugar.

Now, the President said that collaboration with the private sector is being mulled and already, there is a proposal on hand for a refinery.
“Brown sugar market is a good market, but a reducing market, so we have to have the refinery. And we are working with the private sector. [The] establishment of a refinery to have what you call the white sugar, and also looking at the possibility of liquid sugar,” Dr Ali said.

“Important to this is now we’re looking at an experiment of organic sugar and to see how organic sugar is a niche market that carries a different pricing mechanism,” he added.

In 2017, the then-APNU-led government closed several major sugar estates across the country, leaving thousands of persons without jobs.
A former Vice-President of the APNU+AFC government, Khemraj Ramjattan, had maintained that the coalition’s move was transformational, as it is not wise to spend “good money behind bad sectors.”

Over 40,000 persons had either directly or indirectly lost sources of income when the estates were closed and investments were stymied.
At the last general and regional elections, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government vowed to reopen these estates and upon assuming office, major investments were made to fulfil the manifesto pledge of rehiring sugar workers and increasing sugar production.

According to recent statistics provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, over 8,000 persons are now employed across the sugar belt.