Agriculture Minister steadfast on restoring dairy industry

Apr 19, 2016 News

Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, yesterday met with a team from the Inter-

Minister Noel Holder during his meeting with the team from IDB. (A MOA Photo)

American Development Bank (IDB) to further discuss IDB’s willingness to provide assistance in funding agricultural projects in the Intermediate Savannahs.
As part of the mandate to push agriculture as a business and develop agricultural practices in the interior regions of Guyana, the Ministry of Agriculture is seeking to establish an Agricultural station at Manari to expand the Ebini agricultural station and establish a National Dairy Plant to catalyse the milk production potential of Guyana.
Projects of these magnitudes will provide a number of jobs in addition to massive development in the agriculture sector while boosting Guyana’s food safety and export capacity and variety.
The agricultural station at Manari, Rupununi, is expected to have a breeding farm for cattle, a demonstration farm for orchard crops, a centralised office, laboratory quarters and training facilities in addition to farm lands, pastures and a water storage system. This is one of the many agricultural stations set to be constructed across the country.
According to Minister Holder, the introduction of a dairy plant will see Guyana positioning itself to be able to satisfy its dairy needs and replace the US27B dairy import bill Guyana currently spends.
Agriculture Minister Noel Holder is determined to restore Guyana’s dairy industry.
“What was once a lucrative industry is now almost non-existent with Guyana not having a functioning dairy plant. Guyana imports a large amount of dairy products such as milk, cheese, etc., which can be produced locally if such a plant is acquired,” he said. (Ministry of Agriculture release)