THE Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Agriculture, yesterday, introduced the Guyana Agriculture Diversification Programme at the Satyadeo Sawh Agriculture Station, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara. Financial and technical support for it is being provided by the United Kingdom (UK) from its Department For International Development (DFID), while its implementation is by CARANA Corporation.
Under this scheme, DFID is providing up to US$2M for new investment in non-traditional agricultural and aquacultural initiatives and it is expected that some 1,000 new jobs will be created.

Additionally, it is also anticipated that its execution would lead to an increase in fish exports, from 1,000 kilogrammes (kgs) to approximately 12,000 kgs per week and in non-traditional exporting from 1,000kgs to about 16,000kgs weekly.
Delivering the feature address at the introduction, Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy pointed out that, in such an undertaking, the market is critical.
“You find the market and people will find the way of producing; markets drive the production chain,” he emphasised.

Ramsammy pointed out that, presently, tilapia production exceeds the local demand but noted that there is a huge market in Trinidad, which will procure in excess of US$15M from China this year.
“I would like a part of that market because I believe that we can produce all the tilapia with the existing aquaculture capacity of Guyana and we can create room for more capacity to be built,” he said.

Certain standards: 
Moreover, the minister stated that it is important for producers, locally, to build capacity for meeting certain standards, so they can produce at a cost that would make them more competitive on other markets.
He said the Agriculture Ministry has mandated its Fisheries Department, the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) to work together on research to develop a domestically produced feed, which would allow producers to be competitive on the market.

In addition, Ramsammy mentioned the importance of Guyana achieving the necessary sanitary and phythosanitary (SPS) standards in order to enter the international market.
The Minister expressed gratitude to the United States Agency for International development (USAID) for having started the agriculture diversification programme in Guyana. While that institution is no longer supporting it, Ramsammy acknowledged that much was learnt from the experience gained.

He also thanked DFID for continuing and sustaining the programme and admitted that a recurring challenge is to ensure that the resources expended contribute to sustainable development and that should not last only during the period of funding.
“This funding should be ‘seed money’ where communities and people grow and where we leave a legacy of adding to the production chain, to the supply chain,” he suggested.

Different type:
Senior Economic Adviser of DFID, Mr. Matt Butler said a very different type of approach, from other projects funded by the UK, will be applied to this project.
He said, instead of running the risk of too much aid spending, the US$2M or Guyana $4 billion will be paid in installments, based on reports submitted by CARANA during the course implementation.
Butler said that method will guarantee value for UK taxpayers’ money and also development impact in Guyana.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CARANA, Mr. Eduardo Tugendhat echoed the view of Minister Ramsammy that markets are critical in the venture. 
“What we’re trying to do is link and connect markets, starting from the markets and working backwards. What do the markets want? What’s the technology needed to provide those products and make sure that the farmers who grow it can make money,” he posited.
He stated, further, that one of the challenges experienced by farmers is the scale on which they produce and warned that it is difficult to satisfy markets producing in small amounts. 
Tugendhat said a major part of the whole concept of the project is to organise clusters and create enough volume that would be able to meet market requirements.

British High Commissioner, Mr. Andrew Ayre said Guyana has a unique opportunity to diversify and expand its agricultural exports, with its abundant water for irrigation and aquaculture, vast tracts of productive land and a continuous year-round growing season.
He said DFID supporting this agricultural diversification programme will help to establish aquaculture and non-traditional agriculture as viable export sectors to attract new foreign and local investment and generate substantial revenues.