One thousand black belly sheep are set to arrive in Guyana from Barbados next week.
This was recently revealed by Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha as he addressed residents of No.28 Village and surrounding communities, region five.
“We will be having 1000 black belly sheep coming from Barbados. The ship will be leaving Tuesday to bring these sheep.”
The sheep are expected to arrive in Guyana within 48 hours after departure from Barbados. Before the sheep are shipped, they will be examined for illness.
Earlier this year, President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali launched the black belly sheep project and declared that Guyana could be the livestock capital of the Caribbean.
It is an investment of US$3 million for 2000 black belly sheep. The second batch of sheep will arrive in the near future.
Close to 100 farmers have already signaled their intention to be a part of the project making close to 1400 acres of their land available.
“The president has instructed that 30 percent of women and 20 percent of youth must be involved in the project, not only men,” the agriculture minister noted.
Ali, at the launch of the project, pointed out that the world import value of mutton and mutton products is US$8 billion.
CARICOM alone imports 7,900 tonnes of mutton at US$48 million annually – the four major markets to be targeted by Guyana are The Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.
“We have right within our arms’ reach a market that can generate a value of US$48 million. And who supplies CARICOM right now? Australia and New Zealand. With the increasing cost of freight and logistics cost, it is becoming more and more expensive, that is why this is a low hanging fruit, CARICOM is right within our arms reach,” the president then said.
The Government, in its 2022 budget, earmarked $28.7 billion to ensure the rapid growth and development of Guyana’s agriculture sector.
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