Minister of Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud has held high level talks with the Minister of
Agriculture, Minister of Sugar and the Minister of Food Production in Cuba, looking at ways Cuban specialists could support agriculture diversification and the sugar sector in Guyana. A press release from the Ministry of Agriculture said that following successful discussions, the Cuban government has committed to providing the skills to support Guyana’s diversification effort by offering specialist training to Guyana’s Agriculture Officers and students at the various institutions under the Ministries in Cuba.
“Further, Cuba is interested in the modernization of Guyana’s agriculture sector and will depute a team of officials to study the changes that Guyana is undergoing for agriculture diversification and food production” the release said.
It said that Minister Persaud has also briefed Cuban officials of Guyana’s LCDS and Forest Management, which has deepened their  interest in forest management; and they have requested a senior forest officer from Guyana  to make a presentation on forest management. Cuba is 23 percent forested.
In addition, a team of experts from Cuba will support the implementation of Guysuco’s turnaround plan in the areas of crop production and management.
In its continued effort to deal with the weaknesses in the industry, particularly on the cultivation side, Guyana is pursuing tapping Cuban expertise, such as Agri-Engineer/Field Workshop, Soil Scientist, Biometrician (biometry specialist and Civil Engineer), according to Minister Persaud.
The experts will cover a range of skills so as to improve Guysuco’s agricultural programme. Initially six experts are being tapped, from breeding to tissue culture, pest and disease control, to better field management.
The Ministry said Guysuco and the Cuban skills agency for global sugar support -Technoazucar- are to finalise details. It said too that Cuba provides skills to support sugar industries in Brazil, Guatemala, Panama, Nigeria, and Vietnam, among other sugar producing countries.
“Guyana and Cuba are expected to learn from each other as both countries sugar sector are being modernized and reformed in light of changes to the market arrangements. In the early 1990’s, Cuba was producing over 4 million tonnes per annum, production is now about 1. 2 M tones,” the release said.
Like Guyana, Cuba has embarked on a mechanisation programme as well as research to deal with
climate change and its impact on sugar cultivation.
The release said that recently, Guysuco tapped three experts from India for the new Skeldon
factory and skills are targeted to “beef up” and train local experts. No effort will be spared to get the needed skills set for Guysuco so that the turnaround plan can be successful, stated Minister Persaud.
The cooperation arrangement is expected to boost Guyana’s efforts to diversify and boost exports and supply to Caricom countries. Cooperation between NARI and Cuba’s Tropical Agricultural Institute is anticipated.
Accompanying Minister Persaud in Cuba are Dr. Dwight Waldrond, Head, Livestock Development Unit of the Guyana Livestock Development Board and Mr. Rajendra Singh, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Guyana Sugar Corporation.