Georgetown : Guyana is set to expect a delegation from Trinidad and Tobago’s Food Production Minister, Devant Maharaj next week to engage in talks of Trinidad setting up a “food security facility” in Guyana.
If all goes well and a deal is made, this would allow Trinidad access to land in Guyana for food production purposes.
Meat, primarily beef, is one of the products that Trinidad is considering for the facility which Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Leslie Ramsammy recently referred to as a “mega farm.”
He said that the agreement was met as Caricom heads saw the urgent need to reduce the regional food importation bill and acknowledged Guyana as the country with the most land availability. He disclosed Guyana’s annual food importation bill is US$200M.
On the beneficial side for Guyana, Dr Ramsammy said that the venture will increase foreign investments, create job opportunities and hopefully address some of Guyana’s food needs.
Acknowledging that Trinidad’s primary investment might come through the investment in meat, Ramsammy said that this will be beneficial to Guyana as “we don’t import beef but we import milk…We want to develop a cattle industry that will produce meat and milk enough to supply the local market.”
He said that more cows will help Guyana either reduce the amount of imported milk or stop its importation completely.
The Agriculture Minister said that potentially, “this will be a large export investment.” The Minister noted that “we will like to be able to supply meat to our country, Trinidad and the wider Caribbean.
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