Ministry of Agriculture to launch new tissue culture lab

The Ministry of Agriculture will establish another Biotechnology Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory to advance agricultural productivity and increase the availability of planting materials for farmers across Guyana.

Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha on Wednesday announced that the facility will address longstanding challenges in meeting demand, noting that existing nurseries have been unable to supply farmers with adequate quantities.

“We have 11 nurseries in different parts of the country, but because of the growing demand for planting material, we are unable to supply farmers enough planting material,” the minister stated at the launch of the Farmers’ Connect App at the National Culture Centre (NCC).

A tissue culture lab is a sterile facility where plant or animal cells and tissues are grown in a nutrient-rich medium under controlled conditions.

The additional laboratory will scale up production from between 15,000 and 20,000 plants to over one million annually.

In addition to increased output, the facility will produce disease and pest-resistant planting materials.

The country’s first state-of-the-art tissue culture lab was commissioned in October 2025 at the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) for $450 million.