Oil not replacing Agriculture

AGRICULTURE, NOT OIL, IS STILL THE FUTURE OF GUYANA President Irfaan Ali
said during a recent tour of the two food-based projects in Ebini, Berbice River.
“As I have said before, this is our future—agriculture, food security and our ability to service the
regional market is our sustainable future, and all of our efforts will be to ensure we transfer
enough resources to this sector to make it viable and resilient,” President Ali said during look at
the 115-acre soybean and five-acre corn project.
Since 2015 the growth in the number of discoveries of hydrocarbon here has created openings
for Guyana to become a major oil global oil-producer, swelling the national coffers making it
possible to fast-track economic development of one of the poorest countries in the Americas.
But President Ali has made it plain during the tour of the projects, that Guyana will not abandon
agriculture and the food security it guarantees, for the ‘black gold’ and its perennial certainties
emanating from petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) block countries.
OPEC Secretary-General, Mohammad Barkindo, said doubts will continue affecting stability in
the global oil market and the pace of economic recovery in the context of the ongoing global
pandemic, despite OPEC’s optimism.
“What I have seen today is most pleasing, it is most remarkable. I want to commend the guys but
this is just the start. We have to now replicate this ten-fold in the next crop and then of course,
after that, we move to increase incrementally until we get up to the full production,” President
Ali reiterated after a progress report and plans for its expansion by David Fernandes of Bounty
Farm, Alex Mendez of Dubulay Ranch and Shameer Mohammed from Royal Chicken.
The president noted that the existential crisis of climate change makes it more important for the
agriculture sector to be resilient and to be guided by scientific and technical standards.

The President his government will fully support the soya bean and corn project in Ebini which
will help produce much-needed feed for the local poultry industry.
He is “very confident that this project will be a success” and lauded visionaries behind the effort
including Guyana Stock Feed Limited, Royal Chicken, Edun’s Poultry Farms and Hatchery,
SBM Wood, Dubulay Ranch, Bounty Farm Limited and a Brazilian investor, for the labour,
capital and effort they have personally put into the initial phase.
“From all the plans that I’ve heard and the work that I have seen, I am confident that they are on
a journey to ensure that we are self-sufficient and that we can have import substitution for both
the soya and the corn to meet our local livestock feed requirements,” he said.
“We have to get up to 75,000 acres for us to move to full production locally in this area. So
in the coming weeks, we will be looking at how we can find that land that meets the soil
requirements and the scientific requirements to achieve the target,” President Ali said.