Guyana says it is moving ahead with plans to establish a $14 million regional food hub and that land for the facility has already been identified on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who met with the President of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Dr. Mohammed Sulaiman, emphasized Guyana’s desire to become the regional food hub.
“We want Guyana to be the food hub. The primary production hub of the Caribbean so that we could supply the Caribbean,” he said. “What we have, our colleagues in the Caribbean, don’t have. We have arable flat land and abundant fresh water. Now with the investment coming on board, we can modernize the infrastructure, and start ramping up of the productions.”
Guyana is the lead Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country pushing ahead with plans to reduce the multi-billion-dollar regional food import bill by 25 percent by 2025.
Mustapha said Guyana will work with the State of Roraima in Brazil to form a partnership in the development of the hub.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh said the government has been in discussions with the Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley about sourcing inputs from northern Brazil and transporting them through Guyana to Barbados and vice versa.
“We see the regional food hub as very much a regional initiative…as a piece of infrastructure that will contribute to a more efficient market for agricultural products, across the entire Caribbean and Northern South America,” Singh said.