Georgetown: Guyana’s livestock sector received a further boost of US$40,000 from the Agricultural Policy Programme (APP) with the signing of an agreement between the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) to support targeted actions in production, nutrition and value addition of the small ruminant sub-sector.
The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, and Ambassador of the Delegation to the European Union to Guyana, HE Robert Kopecky, participated in the simple ceremony at the Ministry of Agriculture and witnessed the signing of the Agreement by Mr Bruce Lauckner, Executive Director (Ag) of CARDI and Dr Dindyal Permaul, Chief Executive Officer of the GLDA. Also in attendance were Mr Wilmot Garnett, Representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) to Guyana, Ms Nisa Surujbally, Progamme Manager – Agriculture and Industry of the CARICOM Secretariat, and Ms Taryn De Mendonca, Technical Coordinator for the APP at the CARICOM Secretariat.
The APP is funded by the 10th European Union Development Fund through a Financing Agreement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat.
The CARIFORUM Directorate is responsible for overall coordination and monitoring of the Caribbean Action of the APP, valued at 8.6M Euros, while IICA is responsible for implementation and coordination of all activities in collaboration with the implementing partners, the CARICOM Secretariat and CARDI.
The APP aims to provide critical support to enhance rural incomes and livelihoods, food security, and develop rural communities. The Caribbean Action comprises three components which are addressing three fundamental areas of developmental concern;
– Strengthening regional agricultural development strategy (Component 1, administered by the CARICOM Secretariat),
– Improving dissemination and adoption of applied research and appropriate technologies, including agriculture – oriented measures in disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation (Component 2, administered by CARDI), and
– Enterprise development under improved market linkages (Component 3, administered by IICA)
Minister Ramsammy expressed his satisfaction with this latest initiative under the APP and stated that Guyana’s small ruminant sector has been gaining ground in recent times with the establishment of several small farmer organisations focused on integrating their efforts to expand the industry by improving their management practices, adopting new technologies and running their operations as businesses. Noting that the Region imports more than 70% of its consumption of mutton, Minister Ramsammy indicated that the small ruminant industry has a pivotal role to play in the development of the agricultural sector. In this regard, he was convinced that Guyana can be a leader in reducing the food import bill.
The need for the Region to address food security and the food import bill through focused initiatives in agriculture was emphasised by Mr Lauckner. CARDI commended the CARICOM Secretariat for its guidance in determining the regional policy framework for Agriculture including identification of priority commodities. As the lead agency to develop the small ruminant sector, CARDI was pleased to establish the Agreement with the GLDA to implement programmes that are relevant to the expansion of production in Guyana. Mr Lauckner expressed appreciation to the IICA office in Guyana for its facilitative role in finalising the Agreement and for the assistance it has agreed to render in the financial management and reporting thereafter.
Ambassador Kopecky also expressed his satisfaction with the effort to develop the small ruminant industry in Guyana and CARICOM, utilising resources under the APP, in an integrated approach through collaboration of the implementing partners in the areas of policy, technology transfer and marketing. The EU, he advised, is mindful of the challenges that face the agricultural sector and will be very much looking forward to witnessing its transformation through implementation of the APP.
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