Guyana spending US$49M annually to import milk and meat

Jul 19, 2022 News

By Kiana Wilburg

Kaieteur News – While Guyana may have several operations on stream for the production of milk and varying meat products, these commodities are still being imported in significant quantities.

In fact, Guyana imports US$35M worth of milk products while for chicken products and mutton, this total US$3M and US$10.5M respectively

The foregoing was captured in the 2022 Agriculture Investment Prospectus. This document was launched in May during the nation’s inaugural Agri-Investment Forum and Expo. The event marked an important step toward the goal of reducing CARICOM’s food import bill of US$6 billion by 25%, by the year 2025.

According to the report, it was noted that the main production areas for milk are in the coastal plain, specifically in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five and Six. It states that there are 519 dairies in operation. Kaieteur News understands that locally produced fresh milk is often marketed directly by the farmers to nearby consumers as raw (unpasteurized and warm) milk. It was noted that customers routinely boil the milk and consume it daily (no storage or further processing).

However, with the influx of attractively imported powdered, and more recently, pasteurized liquid milk, which are competitively priced, the report notes that consumers nationwide have more choices.

A new investment by Amaya Milk Company is expected to create a modern plant for pasteurizing milk and eventually the production of milk-based products and flavoured milk. With the introduction of these locally produced milk products, it is hoped that Guyana’s milk import bill, currently estimated to be US$35 million annually, will see a significant reduction.

Kaieteur News previously reported that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Amaya Milk Company, the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) and the Ministry of Agriculture for the construction of a milk processing facility last year.

The multi-million-dollar facility, which is being constructed at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice by Canadian-based investor Omkaar Sharma, saw an initial investment of $150 million. At capacity, the facility is expected to make in excess of $75 million per month in direct payment to dairy farmers in Regions Five and Six.

CHICKEN PRODUCTS

With respect to chicken, there are approximately 600 commercial producers in Guyana, raising an estimated 2,500,000 chickens. Many of the chicken producers are relatively small. However, there are few larger growers/processors. For example, Toucan and Royal Chicken INC rear their own chickens.

The well-known Bounty Farm has contract farmers that assist in producing chickens for their processing activities. The Agri report notes that the poultry producers purchase feed from three feed producers: Guyana Stockfeeds Limited, Bounty Farm Limited, and Dence Feed Mill. Much of the feed is imported from the United States too and carries its own hefty bill which the government is working to reduce.

As for Guyanese broiler meat production, statistics shows that this increased from 42 to 49.8 million kg during the period 2018-2021 while production of table eggs rose from 32 million to 57.3 million during the same period.

The ministry said Guyana is largely self-sufficient in fresh/ frozen poultry meat products. Be that as it may, imports for processed poultry products are in excess of US$3 million annually.

Demand for foreign poultry products is forecast to increase on account of the nation’s oil producing status which attracts more visitors and expats yearly.

RUMINANTS

The 2022 Agriculture Investment Prospectus notes that Guyana currently has 130 registered sheep farmers and 50 registered goat farmers raising an estimated 42,600 sheep and 23,220 goats. Meat production and slaughtering takes place on both a formal and informal basis. In the formal setting, regulations and main standard practices must be adhered to such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), etc.

Kaieteur News understands that the slaughter and handling of animals and carcasses are done in a hygienic manner to minimize contamination. In the informal setting, the basic hygienic practices may be over-looked, for example, there is no cold storage for carcass after slaughter.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 95% of slaughtering of small ruminants is informal in Guyana, whereas only 5% is formal. Presently, there are no laws or regulations surrounding the slaughter of small ruminants as they are for cattle. As such, “bottom-house slaughter” is the common practice.

The report states that marketing for mutton/ chevon is a challenge since the informal setting for slaughtering dominates in the small ruminant industry. Local production has a specific target market which deals with chopped mutton sold at meat stalls in the markets. Importantly, local production does not supply the high-end local market.

Taking this into account, Guyana’s import bill in this category is high. The oil producing State imported 13.8 tonnes of mutton valued at US$10.5 million. Guyana’s mutton production has nonetheless seen a modest increase from 65,443 kg to 69,012 kg during the period 2019-2021 while production of goat meat grew from 98,188 kg to over 106,000 kg in the same period.