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- As CARICOM nations work toward reducing food import bill by 2030
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – Guyana surpassed regional expectations for agricultural production, achieving approximately 88 percent of production targets one year ahead of schedule.
The evidence for this was spelt out in a detailed press release from the ministry of agriculture on Wednesday, describing it as an opportunity to “provide clarity and context on the policy measures, data trends, and production outcomes” related to Guyana’s impressive achievement.
Referencing two articles that pointed to CARICOM’s goal of reducing the region’s food import bill by 25 percent by 2030, the ministry’s advisor on CARICOM Agri-food systems, Richard Blair, pointed out that Guyana has been massively surpassing its targets.
“Guyana’s performance was nothing short of exceptional, exceeding the region’s average achievement rates,” Blair posited.
In 2022, Guyana produced nearly 899,000 metric tonnes of food. By the end of 2024, that number climbed to 1.26 metric tonnes.
This increase was supported by the skyrocketing of rice yield, brackish water shrimp (which recorded a more than 1,000 percent increase), corn and soya, and prawns.
The advisor attributed these achievements to tangible and measurable policy decisions that catapulted the food production outputs between 2024 and 2025.
“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 explained.
He also pointed out that this information can be found in several publicly available documents.
One such example is the Bank of Guyana’s Statistical Bulletins and Quarterly Reports.
Underscoring that there is much more to be achieved by Guyana and the region by 2030, Blair said that the challenges being faced are global in nature. He said that there has been a focus shift from nominal reductions in food import bills to the measuring of more inflation-adjusted import reductions.
In other words, although 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 percent 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,” the advisor explained.
