Guyana hopes to save big by producing hatching eggs locally

Guyana spends about US$6.6 million (or approximately GY$1.3 billion) importing about 53 million hatching eggs to satisfy local demand.

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, however, told reporters on Monday that the government is on an ambitious agenda to be self-sufficient in this regard, possibly by the end of 2025.

“Guyana is importing approximately 53 million hatching eggs annually. We are hoping that by the end of 2025 or early 2026, that we can produce all our hatching eggs (we need),” Mustapha said at his ministry’s end-of-year press conference on Monday.

In 2024, Guyana produced 144,000 hatching eggs; last year, 27,000 eggs were produced. The Agriculture Minister, however, posited that local production will increase significantly in coming months with the expansion of the local breeding programme.

New facilities will be set up across the country, he said.

If this feat is achieved, and Guyana produces the eggs it needs, Guyana could slash the mammoth US$6.6 million sum out of its food import bill.