Guyana’s Ambassadors to China, U.S pay courtesy call to Agriculture Minister

(Minister of Agriculture-May 11, 2016) -H.E Bayney Karran, Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and H.E Riyad Insanally, Ambassador to the United States of America, today called on the Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder.

The meeting which was held in the Boardroom of the Ministry’s Regent and Shiv Chanderpaul Drive office was centred on pushing agriculture forward through collaboration with the two nations.

During the meeting, Minister Holder welcomed investments by China and the United States, building on the already existing relations.

“Guyana’s agriculture sector has great potential for development….Our agricultural base is on the coast and given the geographical make up of this coastal plain, it is not sustainable,” he said.

Both ambassadors expressed readiness to lobby for investment opportunities coming into Guyana to develop the industry.

Ambassador Insanally enquired about the cultivation of non-traditional crops in certain regions of the Interior Savannahs.

With respect to this, Minister Holder pointed out that the Intermediate Savannahs have a very rich and fertile soil in which crops can thrive. The issue of markets and access to the Intermediate Savannahs to develop the agriculture sector remains a top priority for Minister Holder. He pointed to the fact that, in addition to investments, access remains a major constraint to agricultural development in the region.

Some of the areas the ambassadors will be seeking investments for, as it relates to the agriculture industry, are acquiring processing equipment to further develop the agro-processing industry, alternative energy technology and general advanced technological input.

Guyana has gone a far way with technological development with the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) developing several varieties of rice and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) with their artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer programmes.