GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC—Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali underscored the importance of research and development in the agricultural sector Friday, noting that the region also lacks data when seeking to implement essential projects.
Addressing the launch of the Regional Economical Agri-Insurance Programme (REAP), which aims to provide agricultural insurance for farmers in the region, Ali, who has lead responsibility for agriculture and food security in the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping, said that decisions were also taken without the necessary data.
He told the gathering that sustainability and resilience must consider research and development. He noted, “For too long we have made decisions without data, we have made decisions without proper research…and looking at the best utilization of land, the best utilization of our waters.
‘Research and development is a critical part of this whole infrastructure and ecosystem that supports sustainability and resilience,’ he said, adding that with the assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), “we are working on building out this research and development capability.”
He said this would support decision-making, policy-making, and, most importantly, the viability of products and plants.
‘If we can bank a business plan with good research data, we make it easier for the farmers to have access to the banking sector,”‘ Ali said, recalling that nearly three years ago, “we said we would work with the banks and a facility to support farmers for US$100 million.
“When we went backward, not a single mega project or business plan was ready for financing from the entire private sector in the region.
‘So we started working on grains, for example, in Guyana, and now we have a fully financed project. We have a competition to get into the grains and production market. We are building our own storage facility. And by the end of 2025, we would save tens of millions of US dollars. ‘
He also predicts a significant reduction in the importation of grains and will integrate that into regional food security for meat and poultry.
“We have even gone a step further because of its successes. We are looking at establishing a food mill for agriculture, not for Guyana but to support the region, and this will bring down the feed cost for agriculture by almost 50 percent.
‘So this is the type of integration and investment that takes a bit of time, but it justifies to the banking system the practicality and viability of agro-business and agro-investment,’ Ali said.
He said another example of such initiatives involves consuming black-eye and red beans in the region.
‘I was shocked at the volume of black eye and red beans we import in the region. We are setting ourselves a basic target and are now in a position whereby, in the first quarter of next year…we will produce all our black eye and red beans required here in Guyana. By the end of 2026, corn, soya, black eye, and red beans will be fully sustainable in the CARICOM region.’
He said the next vertical for Guyana and the Caribbean would be hatching eggs, emphasizing the need to stop importing all the hatching eggs.
He said while there are a number of things to be done, most importantly, it is to own the idea. The motive is to be able to produce all the hatching eggs Guyana needs within a three-year period, taking control of the regional market a year later.
The REAP offers insurance products with direct payouts to cover production costs and business interruptions. REAP’s objective is to ensure financial resilience, bolster food security, and promote healthier dietary habits across the region, which align with the key deliverables of the CARICOM’s Special Ministerial Task Force on Food Production and Food Security.”
Barbados-based Lynch Caribbean Brokers launched the initiative, and Ali said it was important for regional countries to support it with research and development and data availability to reduce the instrument’s cost.
“If the cost of the instrument is prohibitive, then we are just marking time. So, it is a collaborative effort that is needed to ensure that the instrument’s pricing is in keeping with the system’s affordability.”
He said it was also critical to decide upon incentivizing lending to farmers and capitalizing agriculture.
“This is important if you say the average corporate tax….on profit from the financial system is 20, 25 percent and if you say you lend to the agricultural sector, those profits from those loans are tax-free, then it is an incentive you are looking at.
“So we have to look at how we incentivize the system to support the building of capital and the capitalization of the food and agricultural sector,” Ali said at the ceremony.
and then 