Success of Guyana’s soya beans and corn production captures CDB’s interest -Mustapha

The massive success of the corn and soya bean trial farm at the Dubulay Ranch at Ebini, along the Berbice River, has attracted the interest of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The financial institution has since engaged Guyana and other CARICOM member states on the possibilities of funding a regional production programme.
Making this disclosure today was Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha who also heads the Special Ministerial Taskforce (MTF) established by CARICOM last year.
Since its establishment, the MTF has held five meetings. In providing an update on these sessions, Mustapha noted that the taskforce was able to engage and collaborate with the Caribbean Private Sector Organization to advance a regional corn and soya programme while adding that the CDB is keen on providing the requisite fiscal support. Guyana’s success, no doubt, has been quite the confidence booster in this regard.
The MTF Chairman said, “…The Caribbean Development Bank has since expressed interest in supporting the production of corn and soya beans used as intermediate inputs for feed production as possible commodities for input displacement. Initial discussions are currently ongoing with the CDB on the nature of the proposed support. This project, as you know, has positive implications for Guyana positioning itself as the supplier of inputs for the poultry industry.”
Mustapha added, “This will result, in one stroke, to help to alleviate the concern of food and nutrition security because Guyana will be able to provide its protein for poultry, which is widely consumed across the region. Further, it will also reduce the food import bill because, annually, we spend an enormous amount of money to import corn and soya beans for the poultry industry. There are also implications for things like cross-border investments.”
With the annual imports for proteins for the poultry sector being close to $25 million, Mustapha said the government sought to incentivize the cultivation of corn and soya beans in 2021. Readers would recall that $500 million in infrastructural investment was made to rehabilitate 18km of the road starting from the junction of the Linden- Ituni road and heading east towards the Berbice River. This paved the way for greater access to prime lands for the cultivation of new crops. Additional investment will be done for, drying facilities and storage silos, the ministry indicated on Friday.
With respect to the success of the corn and soya bean trial farm at the Dubulay Ranch, the ministry said it was pleased to learn that the cultivation of 111 acres of soya bean, and 5 acres of corn resulted in a yield of 2.3 tonnes per hectare.
The ministry further noted that the aim of the project investors is to cultivate 56,000 acres or 22,400 hectares to satisfy the local demand, after which, cultivation for export to markets in the region will be targeted. It said support to the investors will continue to be provided as needed by the government.
The six local companies and a regional firm involved in the project are Guyana Stock Feed Ltd., Royal Chicken, Edun Farms, SBM Wood, Dubulay Ranch, and Bounty Farm Ltd., and Brazilian-owned N F Agriculture.