HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, has outlined some of the positive outcomes of the countrywide ‘Grow More’ food campaign.

He was responding to questions about the impact of the Grow More campaign at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing Wednesday at the Office of the President on New Garden Street, Georgetown.

The Grow More food campaign across the country was launched in March, an initiative by the Agriculture Ministry, in collaboration with the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (NGMC), and aimed at increasing food production to minimise food prices and to expand export.

The campaign involves the distribution of seeds, planting materials, chemicals and fertilizers to farmers and households across Guyana. It also includes:

* the distribution of fruit trees for new home owners

* the enhancement of livestock, including pigs, sheep, goats and ducks

* the implementation of a US$20.9M Agriculture Export Diversification programme designed to develop the beef, fruits, vegetables and aqua culture chains

* the implementation of a US$6M Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Development programme to raise the income of poor rural farmers; and

* the provision of extension services and adequate drainage and irrigation to farmers.

“Crop on the acreage has gone up dramatically and government inputs into facilitating land development – clearing, drainage and irrigation, that has gone up dramatically,” he observed.

“There is firm evidence that our export of non-traditional crops has been growing…,” he noted.

To this end, he pointed out that farmers and exporters have been able to make significant capital investment such as refrigeration at the airport and refrigeration within their holdings to get the perishable goods available for exports.

However, he noted, “I think the one area where some analysis has to be made has been on prices…”

“If you go back to 2005, what our farmers had to endure was successive crop failures…it has not been a friendly time for farmers. The bankers that lend money to the agriculture sector will tell you that it has been a profitable time for them,” he observed.

“This opportunity, I suspect, has been seized by the farmers to fill many holes that were created by adversities, national and otherwise, over the years,” Dr. Luncheon posited.

He also noted that the new entrants into the market might find it easier to sell at a more reasonable mark-up and ultimately, over time, prices will come down.

“It is not as elastic as we would like it and these prices that are in the market place probably reflect more than just the available commodity,” he pointed out.