Guyana

Guyana is a sovereign state on the northern mainland of South America. Agriculture is one of its main economic activities with 51,000 (14%) of the working population in the sector. Given the size of Guyana, and the importance of the agriculture sector, as well as the large volumes of products available, it is expected that the country would have a sophisticated marketing network.  And what might be deemed small scale production in Guyana would yield three to four times more than a similar producer in other Caribbean countries.

In 2015, agriculture accounted for 21.8% of Guyana’s GDP , 30% of employment and 40% of export earnings with the production of:

  • Rice
  • Demerara sugar
  • Livestock production
  • Shrimp

Other products produced by Guyana include:

  • Edible oils
  • Beef
  • Pork
  • Poultry
  • Fish
  • Ginger
  • Coconuts
  • Pineapples and other citrus fruits
  • Bananas
  • Ground provisions
  • Tomatoes
  • Boulanger
  • Eschallot
  • Bora
  • Cucumber

Agriculture remains central to the country’s food security, supplying significant amount of fruits and vegetables, chicken, beef, and pork to satisfy local consumption. The rice industry especially has recorded consistently high levels of output, breaking the 400,000 tonne bar, in 2011, and the 500,000 tonne bar, in 2013. For 2014, rice output attained an impressive 635,238 tonnes, an increase of 18.6%. Other crops such as vegetables, staple crops, fruits and spices are being produced in larger quantities to satisfy local needs as well as to meet the requirements of export markets.

The vast majority of agricultural activity takes place in Guyana’s coastal plains. The local climate is tropical, generally hot and humid, with two rainy seasons from May to mid-August and the second from mid-November to mid-January.

The fisheries sector continues to be a major source of animal protein in Guyana and contributed G$157 million (2.8%) to total GDP in 2004, greater than that of rice (2.6%). In aquaculture particularly, species grown are queriman, snook, croaker, bashaw, tilapia, tarpon, shrimp, tilapia, and catfish.

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