Corn, soya bean processing facility almost complete

The Government of Guyana hopes to reduce the $60 million spent annually to import corn and soya bean with the completion of a drying and storage facility expected in the next three months.

Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha this week disclosed that the new facility which is under construction at Tacama Landing along the Berbice River, will greatly boost the country’s production.  Already, 495 acres of soya bean was sowed in 2022, with the second crop of 1,000 acres on its way.

“We [government] have started the production of corn and soya in the intermediate savannah, we started to build facilities there, and in another two-three months, we’ll have those facilities complete,” Minister Mustapha told famers on Tuesday.

He reminded that the government is expanding its production of new crops and assisting farmers with the relevant infrastructure to make their production less challenging.

Farmers across the country have received assistance by being provided with access to plants, materials, animals while drainage and irrigation concerns have been sorted through agencies such as the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA).

This year, $426 million was set aside to complete the 47- kilometre, Ituni-Tacama farm -to- market road.

“We see the need to improve the infrastructure in our country. We see the need to ensure that we prepare the agriculture area in a way that farmers can have it easier to produce,” the minister explained.

By 2025, the government hopes to become self-sufficient in food production. Additionally, there has also been major interest by the private sector to increase food production. Investors from Farmlands Guyana Inc. recently met with the Agriculture Minister to discuss operations as the company gears up to commence work on an initial 1,000 hectares of land in the Tacama Savannah.

The ministry said that 700 hectares will be used to cultivate soya and the remaining 300 hectares will be used to cultivate corn. The company is expected to commence cultivation in November and hopes to increase its acreages to some 24,000 hectares in the coming years.