Guyana’s agriculture sector is poised to be boosted as $104.6 billion has been allocated in the 2025 National Budget for the industry.
This was disclosed by Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh on Friday evening.
Minister Singh was delivering the budget speech at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal.
An allocation of $430.9 million has been set aside for rice in 2025. This investment will see a number of new initiatives being developed to further increase the country’ production.
“In 2025, our investment will expand storage capacity at the Number 56 Seed Facility and will extend precision in agriculture to farmers, including specialised broadcast equipment to improve efficiency in in crop management,” the minister stated.
To support the cultivation of other crops, $2.9 billion has been budgeted by the government. These crops may include corn and soya, spices, citrus and other high-value crops such as broccoli and cauliflower.
In addition, the coconut industry has bolstering force to the agriculture sector and as such $116 million has been put aside for this initiative.
Moreover, to ensure the easy manufacturing of agricultural products, a sum of $800 million was allocated for the agro-processing industry.
This will see the design of an expanded Guyana Shop to showcase products under the Made In Guyana brand, while 12 Guyana Shop spaces will be added to create 93 such spaces at shops across the country.
In terms of livestock, the government has budgeted $1.7 billion to boost the business.
“In 2025, we will construct a feed pelletiser storage building, complete a modular pig slaughtering and processing facility at Garden of Eden, and modular duck processing facilities in Regions Two and Six,” the senior minister revealed.
Meanwhile, a staggering $1.3 billion will go towards the development of the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
This will see 80 additional brackish water shrimp ponds being constructed in Region Six and 50 more fishing cages installed.
To add to this, 100 vessel monitoring devices will be acquired to complement the surveillance of fishing activities.
