The Guyana Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, is engaging with the North African State of Morocco in an effort to bring down fertilisers costs and, consequentially, the price of agricultural produce on the local market.
This revelation was made by President Dr Irfaan Ali on Saturday while on a visit to the Leonora Market in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).
The President was accompanied by several cabinet Ministers, including Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd.
“When you speak to the farmers directly, you hear how they’re trying to maintain the price, they’re not trying to increase the price. And they have difficulties with the price of fertilisers…,” Ali explained.
“Minister Todd is working on an initiative right now; we’ve been talking to Morocco for a while now to see if we can directly engage them on the issue of fertilizer. We’re having some headways now and by July we should have some positive news,” Ali added.
Urea and ammonia compounds are said to be the most used fertilser products in Guyana which imports about 45,000 tonnes annually.
As cost of living continues to skyrocket on the global market, a sore issue for Guyanese is the high cost of fertilizers which is contributing to major increases in local food produce.
GAICO Construction and General Services has already announced plans to construct a US$6M fertiliser blending plant in Region Three. With this facility, the amount of fertilisers imported by Guyana is expected to decrease.
