Remaining black belly sheep to arrive soon – Min. Mustapha

The remaining flock of the black belly sheep from Barbados is expected to arrive in Guyana soon.  

Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha made the disclosure while speaking with the media on the sideline of a contract signing event on Monday at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regent Street, Georgetown.

“I am hoping that by the end of this month or early next month, we can have the balance of the sheep coming into the country. So, I’m very hopeful because he told me that now they are looking to get it quarantined before they send it up to Guyana,” Minister Mustapha underlined.

This undertaking will also see Guyana integrally involved in its efforts to reduce CARICOM’s food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025. 

The breed is primarily raised for meat and other high-demand byproducts.

The government remains optimistic that the remaining sheep will arrive in Guyana to fully roll out the project by May-June this year.

About 1,325 acres of farmland have been made available for the initiative.  Some $177.7 million was allocated in the national budget early last year to provide additional resources to support the promising initiative.

The first flock of black belly sheep arrived in August 2022, which saw a total of 132 sheep.

This project was launched by President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali in March 2022 in Region Five. The government continues to implement various initiatives to ramp up production and diversify the economy.