A land mapping exercise is currently underway which will see the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) working together in order to identify new farming lands for agricultural development.
Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha confirmed that the exercise will be completed in the near future. He said “before the first quarter, we are going to get that mapping out finished,” And, once that has been done, infrastructural works will commence.
Minister Mustapha went on to say that the newly identified lands will be used to support the entire gamut of agricultural crops. He noted that, “we have to ensure that we work in a way that all the sectors within the agriculture sector can survive. That means cash crop, rice, cattle, or livestock, all must work together”.
According to Minister Mustapha, his ministry is working to construct a dairy plant in the community of Maratraite to further develop large scale farms across the East Bank Berbice region. He further noted that farmers will have the opportunity to build their skills and capacity because of the venture whilst focusing specifically in cattle rearing.
Minister Mustapha further went on to underscore the importance of obtaining proper funding for the venture and stated that, “more importantly, what we’ll be doing will also encourage private investment because there are a number of interests that are being added as people are expressing to come to these parts of the country to invest”.
