Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has reassured farmers that the Guyana Government is working with stakeholders in the Caribbean region to have agriculture insurance available here in the coming years.
He made this remark during an engagement with a group of farmers and other residents at Coverden, East Bank Demerara.
One livestock farmer indicated that she lost all her chickens during a past flood and was unable to restart the business. As a result, she requested assistance from the government to do this. Her plea, which the minister assured will be looked into, prompted another farmer to inquire about the government’s position on agriculture insurance.
Minister Mustapha disclosed that there is currently a regional effort, at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) level, to implement an agriculture insurance scheme. He related that Jamaica-based GraceKennedy Limited, one of the Caribbean’s largest Food and Financial corporate entities, is exploring the market across the region and has even rolled out a pilot project in Guyana.
“The Government is interested in agriculture insurance and I’m very passionate about it as Minister of Agriculture,” Mustapha declared.
He explained that often times when there are floods and other natural disasters, during which farmers lose their crops and/or livestock, it is the government that bore the financial burden and recompensates the farmers for their losses.
In fact, the Agriculture Minister reminded of the devastating 2021 floods in Guyana, which not only affected homes but large quantities of crops and livestock. As a result, Government had to set aside some $7.8 billion in flood relief and according to Mustapha – a lot of farmers did not benefit from that flood relief cash grant.
“So, if we have agriculture insurance, that would help a lot and I am hoping that before my tenure is up as Agriculture Minister, we can get agriculture insurance in Guyana,” he posited.
In response to the threat posed by climate change, especially to the productive sectors, CARICOM Member States have been working to strengthen their disaster readiness and recovery plan. Consequently, agriculture insurance has been identified as a critical need by agriculture producers in the Caribbean.
With Guyana leading the region’s food security initiative, CARICOM leaders have been working with the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and GraceKennedy towards the establishment of regional agricultural insurance.
The CARICOM Ministerial Taskforce (MTF), which is chaired by Minister Mustapha, has since established an Agriculture Insurance Technical working group to push this initiative.
Following an MTF meeting back in November 2022, Programme Manager – Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, Shaun Baugh, disclosed that the working group had engaged representatives of GraceKennedy to discuss the progress made in developing and implementing such a product.
“Late [2021], we received a presentation from Grace Kennedy Insurance out of Jamaica. They had presented a particular product that they have ongoing in that member state and expressed an interest in scaling up and introducing it to the rest of the region. They have indicated that they have now been able to put a dedicated project team to get this product up and running and that they are near completion of negotiating with their reinsurance to carry the product. They have also submitted an implementation work plan and programme to which they have committed to. All in all, it amounts to a possible product being introduced by the first half of 2023,” Baugh was quoted in a statement from Guyana’s Agriculture Ministry.
Meanwhile, Minister Mustapha had indicated earlier this year that the CARICOM MTF has listed agriculture insurance as one of its priority areas identified for 2023 that will help to advance regional efforts aimed towards achieving ‘Vision 25 by 2025’ – reducing the Caribbean’s food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.
Guyana has been playing the lead role in driving the agriculture sector in CARICOM and has been receiving tremendous support from international institutions to promote the development of the regional agri-food system.
In fact, back in April, during a meeting with officials from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Mustapha discussed the importance of and need for agriculture insurance.
Nevertheless, during Friday’s engagement, the Coverden farmers raised a number of issues related to drainage and irrigation challenges that they face in the farmlands. In response, the Agriculture Minister has instructed the Head of the National Irrigation and Drainage Authority (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth, to return to the community to carry out an assessment of the work that needs to be done.
“In one week from now, Lionel will be back in the area with the NDIA team. [They] will come and walk with you, the farmers, and you show them what needs to be done,” he indicated.
Mustapha also promise the farmers to deliver much-needed planting materials that they requested from the government. The same will be done for livestock farmers, the minister assured.
