GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana's government says the country has a surpassed regional expectations for agricultural production, achieving approximately 88 percent of production targets one year ahead of schedule.
In a statement, the Ministry of Agriculture described the achievement as an opportunity to “provide clarity and context on the policy measures, data trends, and production outcomes”.
It noted the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) goal of reducing the region’s food import bill by 25 percent by 2030 with the ministry’s advisor on CARICOM Agri-food systems, Richard Blair, saying that Guyana has been massively surpassing its targets.
“Guyana’s performance was nothing short of exceptional, exceeding the region’s average achievement rates,” Blair said.
In 2022, Guyana produced nearly 899,000 metric tons of food. By the end of 2024, that number climbed to 1.26 metric tons. This increase was supported by significant increases in rice, brackish water shrimp, corn and soya, and prawns.
“These outcomes did not occur by chance, but were primarily driven by robust supply-side interventions, underpinned by a comprehensive strategy [to improve] infrastructure, technology, and policy reform,” Blair said.
He said that there is much more to be achieved by Guyana and the region by 2030 even as he acknowledged the challenges being faced are global in nature.
Blair said that there has been a focus shift from nominal reductions in food import bills to the measuring of more inflation-adjusted import reductions, noting that while the quantity of goods imported may not have increased, factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war and disruptions in global food supply chains have caused the prices for regularly imported goods to increase, giving the appearance that progress has not been made.
“The extension of the CARICOM’s 25 per cent by 2025 initiative to 2030 reflects a strategic shift towards achieving concrete production targets rather than relying on reductions in the nominal food import bill,” he added.
