-Guyana’s first tissue-culture lab to be operational in first quarter of this year
-set to produce millions of plantlets
SET to be a game changer to food production, Guyana’s first tissue culture lab, expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2025, will revolutionise the production of planting material, or plantlets, across the country.
At year-end press conference earlier this week, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, disclosed that the country has signed a landmark contract with the Energy Resource Institute of India for the construction of a state-of-the-art tissue culture lab at a cost of $402.5 million.
Currently, Guyana produces approximately 15,000 plantlets annually through its network of nurseries across the nation. However, the new lab will dramatically increase this capacity, with the potential to produce millions of plantlets each year. This increase in production will not only support local agricultural needs, but will also have significant implications for the country’s agricultural exports.

“We want things like pineapple, breadfruit, potato, coconut, blackberries; even cane plants the tissue culture lab will produce.”
“Those are things that we normally import, so this will help us reduce our food import bill with the type of planting material we will be producing at the tissue culture lab,” Minister Mustapha said.
The lab’s advanced capabilities will extend to the large-scale production of cassava, a staple crop in Guyana. This initiative comes at a time when the country is looking to reduce its reliance on imported food products.

According to Mustapha, the building itself will see an investment of $179 million while the equipment will cost just around $223 million.
The lab’s impact will be felt beyond just reducing food imports. The facility will also support the diversification of Guyana’s agricultural output, opening new opportunities for both the local and export markets. This diversification is seen as a critical step in ensuring the future sustainability and growth of the sector.
“This here will help us to diversify Guyana’s agriculture output and support the demand for both local and export market,” Mustapha added
Tissue culture involves the cultivation of plant cells, tissues, or organs on a specially formulated nutrient medium. Under the right conditions, an entire plant can be regenerated from a single cell.
Plant tissue culture is a technique that has been around for more than 30 years.