FAO backs Guyana’s aggressive food production agenda

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the specialised United Nations body, has renewed its commitment to Guyana’s agricultural sector with the signing of a new country programme framework for 2022 to 2026.

Through this agreement between the FAO and Guyana’s government, the international body is expected to provide assistance in transportation, sustainable agriculture food systems, enhanced disaster risk management capacity, and increased use of technology, inter alia.

“This document reflects our priorities in certain areas.

“…over the years the FAO has played a very important role in Guyana,” Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said after the signing was done on Friday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at Liliendaal, Georgetown.

He gave the example of the ongoing fishing study that the FAO has been conducting. This study was initiated to determine what has been contributing to the low catches local fisherfolk have been recording.

Meanwhile, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean Dr. Julio A. Berdegué, who signed the agreement, affirmed that the FAO is in support of Guyana’s agricultural agenda.

“This meeting that we are having here confirms that Guyana is the place to be today. No other country in the Americas is conducting a transformation of its agri-food systems to the extent, with the dynamism and with the level of political support that I have seen here in Guyana,” Dr. Berdegué underscored.

A memorandum of responsibilities was also signed between Guyana and the FAO ahead of Guyana’s hosting of the FAO Regional Conference in 2024.

This conference offers space for deliberation among the countries of the region on priorities for the agri-food sector with a view to promoting alignment with global policy frameworks, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.