Guyana, the land of shortages

Sep 15, 2013 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Not so long ago the authorities used to boast that Guyana was self-sufficient in food. Forbes Burnham had conducted a studied campaign to ensure that Guyanese grow their own food, since the imported food was costing the country too much.
Indeed, when Guyanese consumed imported foods they were actually supporting the foreign farmer and foreign producer at the expense of the locals. The ban on certain items, although being cussed to this day, turned out to be a blessing in disguise for many Guyanese who would have remained poor nobodies to this day.
As a result of the ban, Guyanese began to produce the salted fish that is now so common, eschallot, the various kitchen garden vegetables in such quantities that at one stage people actually exported these things, and the numerous packed products that serve as condiments. During the ban, too, Guyana actually experimented with the canning industry which failed largely because of the high cost of electricity.
Better days came when certain commodities were allowed to return and with each passing year more and more imported foods enter Guyana. Those who can afford them really splurge and there are many these days. Forget the harsh reality that more than half of the country lives in poverty.
We have grown accustomed to chicken, the ubiquitous protein provider. Everywhere one turns there is chicken. One goes into a restaurant and one would invariably see people eating a chicken dish. Whether that restaurant is Chinese, or Indian or Creole, there would be chicken. I have seen in the Creole restaurant, people eating a large serving of cook-up rice with a piece of fried chicken on top. Inside the cook-up would be the other parts of the chicken that are not very marketable.
In the Chinese restaurants the meal is almost invariably chicken fried rice or chicken chowmein. The Indian restaurant would serve curried chicken. There is chicken everywhere. The government granted franchises to a number of fast food places that specialized in chicken. The first was KFC, which, when it came, attracted long lines at the only franchise. It was madness.
A few years later others came. Names like Popeye’s, and Church’s became household names. But before them there were Rendezvous, and I distinctly remember the Chicken House on Regent Street. Of course there was always the Banks DIH Chicken. People who just wanted fast food had a wide range of places to select their chicken.
However, a shortage was never far away. There was a time when every Christmas people looked forward to Guyana Stores importing tons of chicken.
Three years ago, the then Agriculture Minister announced that Guyana was preparing to export chicken.
I thought that this was a remarkable turnaround when just a few short years ago the government had to grant import licences for chicken. Where did these local producers come from to effect such a radical turnaround?
Today I say that it is a good thing that the idea to export never took serious root. Indeed, there were those enterprising people on the Corentyne who smuggled chicken across the river but for the others, it was either finding increasing sums or do without.
The price kept rising because the local producers claimed that they were having to pay more for the basic stock—the hatching eggs. When there was a poor batch of eggs, then there was no need to ask about the chicken. Today there is a yet another chicken shortage, despite the best efforts of the producers. Pork is in short supply, too.
Now we are hearing that stone is short. Stone producers insist that there is no shortage, but the government says that there is. The government said that its contractors cannot get enough of the produce, but the stone producers all say that it may be a question of the contractor seeking credit and being refused.
I have since learnt that the Marriott could have been responsible for some of the stone shortage. If that is indeed the case, then Guyana’s stone production is in a woeful state. The message would be that one single hotel construction could use up most of the stone produced. The few road constructions would accommodate the rest.
Now this is a horrible situation, and I ask myself about the capability to provide the stone for the Amaila Falls hydro project.  If that project has not yet started and there is a stone shortage, then what would happen? Surely Guyana is not the developing country one expects it to be.
The government has been talking about all these areas of development and now it is turning out that there is not enough stone to support the projects — that is if we are to quote the government.  There is the Cheddi Jagan International Airport expansion programme. This is bigger than the Marriott; it would need stone.
And I have deliberately ignored the large four-lane road projects now underway along the coast. One thing is certain; the major stone producer says that he can supply once he is supported, but that is another story.
For now, Guyana seems to be a land of shortages. Skills are short, textbooks are short and money is short for many people. Electricity is short and in that sector there is a shortage of wallaba poles.

 

 

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