Guyana eyes production of bio-fortified rice - Agri. Minister

Guyana eyes production of bio-fortified rice – Agri. Minister

Feb 02, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – In defending the budgetary allocations for his ministry, the minister of Agriculture, Zulkifar Mustapha yesterday told the National Assembly that this sector is expected to take major leaps, with the introduction of new technology, particularly in the rice industry.
In fact, he boasted that the country is in the process of testing its ‘bio-fortified’ rice, a modified version, which was developed to include additional nutrients or supplements.

Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha makes a point during Tuesday’s Budget Debates.

According to the Minister, this variety will not only be healthier, but also attract a “lucrative price” as Guyana would be the only Caricom country producing such quality. “The supplement that doctors order patients to buy, the zinc supplement, we are now growing it in that rice. That rice will attract lucrative price and preferential price… we are in the third trial now and very shortly that will come out,” he informed.
Mustapha noted that if the trial proves successful, rice planters across Guyana will commence production of the new variety. Only last year, he pointed out, a new variety was launched called the GRDB 16, which has moved the national average from 39 bags per acre to between 55 to 60 bags per acre.
On the other hand, he explained that last November, a farmer in Golden Fleece, Region Three would have commenced spraying his crop, using drone technology, an initiative that government is seeking to also test. In this regard, Mustapha said, “Imagine that 135 acres of rice that would have taken three days with three persons was sprayed in half a day by the drone. This year, we will be purchasing a drone for the Rice Research station so that we can have that technology here too. So we are modernizing the rice sector”.
Reopening of sugar estates
When it comes to the sugar sector, the subject Minister told Parliament that government is seeking to reopen the estates in a phased manner. He was at the time responding to constant heckling from Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan, who challenged him to say what the government has done to reverse the closure of the sugar estates, amid the Minister praising government’s approach to the “dwindling” sector.
Mustapha said that with the $6 billion allocation given to the sector this year in Budget 2022, investments will be made in job creation. Although he did not state the party’s plan to create the jobs, the Agriculture Minister shared, “Tens of thousands of jobs we will be created, and we will help tens of thousands of families. We (are) putting in the village economies more cash and thousands of people are benefitting, not only the sugar workers, but people who live in the community and who depend on the sugar industry indirectly”.

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