Government, Private Sector collaborate to boost agriculture

Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha recently met with members of the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) Agriculture Sub-Committee to discuss opportunities for public-private partnerships aimed at advancing Guyana’s agriculture sector.

During the meeting, Minister Mustapha highlighted ongoing collaboration between the government and local businesses over the past five years.

“We have been putting in the infrastructure while the private sector has been making investments into the crops. We worked with the consortium, Tacama Gold, to cultivate corn and soya for the livestock sector. We put in the infrastructure, the roads, the silos, the wharf, and so on, and they made the investment in the cultivation. This is how we have to do things. It shouldn’t be a government-only programme,” Minister Mustapha explained.

The Minister also noted that the government plans to continue investing in critical infrastructure to support the development and expansion of agriculture over the next five years.

Addressing the local rice industry specifically, Minister Mustapha revealed plans to construct new storage facilities to strengthen Guyana’s competitiveness in the global market.

“In the rice industry, we see what is going on with the world market. So, we are looking to build storage facilities. The first will be built in Essequibo. The tender is out for the construction of a storage facility to store about two million bags of paddy. We are also looking at other areas to establish additional facilities,” he said.

The discussions between the Ministry and the PSC underline the government’s commitment to leveraging partnerships with the private sector to drive sustainable growth in Guyana’s agriculture industry.