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Emphasis being placed on diversifying agriculture sector – Minister Jordan

Aug 03, 2016 News

Creating an enabling environment for more job opportunities remains a priority for Government, according to Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan. However, he identified one of the keys to unlocking permanent job growth as the diversification of the agriculture sector.
He expressed this view during a recent interview, after being asked about the Government’s efforts to create jobs and infuse life into the economy. He stated that for decades the economy has depended on two or three products as its main foreign revenue earners.
“No matter what we talk about resilience, there is no resilience when you have to depend heavily on commodity prices, not for manufactured products but primary products,” he said. “All the talk about jobs, many of these jobs are just temporary, based on a project that might be (ongoing) or if an investor comes.”
Jordan made it clear that Government’s goal was to facilitate the creation of permanent jobs. He stated, however, that to create permanent jobs, more focus would have to be placed on individual sectors, in particular the rice and sugar sector.
“We have to have an agriculture sector that is more diversified. Not sugar and just rice. It has to be far more diversified in the crops that we plant. And also we have to add third and fourth stages in production.”
He pointed out that if the country can import sugar cake from Barbados, then it should be able to sell sugar cake. He queried “why are we not doing it. What is stopping us?”
Pointing out that job creation would not happen overnight, Jordan stated that the kind of job opportunities being created (low skilled versus highly skilled) would also have to be a factor. Jordan also posited that conditions must exist that make it conducive for investment, which in turn results in job creation.
“In the first place we have to make certain that we have a stable political environment,” Jordan said. “Nobody comes and invests if there is no stable political environment.
It is said that the Caribbean region, of which Guyana is a part, has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), which keeps an eye on the economies in the region, had projected a 4 percent economy growth for 2016, as well as an increase in public investment in Guyana.
At present, Guyana has a stagnated manufacturing industry. Despite being a heavy producer of sugar cane, there have even been cases where sugar cane juice was imported from other countries. Fruits which are grown in Guyana have also been imported.
Minister Jordan’s statements about the need to develop second, third and fourth level production will add to the range of skilled job opportunities which would become available. At present, Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) uses a large workforce to harvest and load sugar cane, as well as to grind the cane.
In addition, there are a number of private cane farmers. In the case of rice, private farmers largely cultivate and harvest the paddy, which they then sell to millers.

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