GLDA’s Veterinary Services Lab receives GNBS certification

Apr 17, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) today received its official certification from the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), bringing it one step closer to offering quality testing and results for the livestock industry.

Minister Zulfikar Mustapha receives a certification plaque from Minister of Tourism, Oneidge Walrond

During a simple ceremony earlier this week at GLDA’s Mon Repos facility, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha said the services offered by the GLDA remain paramount to Guyana’s development as it relates to the livestock sector.

Minister Mustapha said, “…This laboratory started at the Ministry’s head office as a sample processing unit and later transitioned into an auxiliary unit of the GLDA, through the acquisition of an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan. This enabled GLDA to construct a new laboratory equipped to improve the quality of services offered to the livestock industry.”

He further noted that government is keen on making the necessary investments to ensure Guyana remains food secure while noting that agencies like the GLDA will have to play a very important role in this process. He said, “This is why facilities like the Veterinary Services Laboratory are critical for us to advance the sector. Now that we are receiving this certification, the laboratory will be recognised in the country and, hopefully, in the near future, across the Caribbean,”

The subject Minister also disclosed that, for GLDA’s 2021 Capital Programme, almost $66 million will be expended to expand the sector. He added that facilities of this nature will be developed and enhanced over time, in keeping with government’s overall development agenda which involves promoting food security in the Caribbean.

Also speaking at the simple ceremony was GLDA’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Grayson Halley who was keen to point out that the laboratory will aid with gearing farmers and producers for the export of livestock and livestock commodities.

The CEO also said that local large-scale livestock farms have already made requests to carry out sampling at the facility. In this regard, he said that GLDA is now working to put systems in place to have those tests carried out immediately.

With Guyana battling the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, GLDA’s laboratory has also demonstrated its capability to support national development programmes that are considered external to its mandate. The laboratory was able to make its Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine available to assist with testing for the Coronavirus.

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