Mustapha underscores importance of traceability as agri sector expands

With Guyana’s agricultural sector undergoing continued expansion and modernisation, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, has stressed the need for effective traceability systems to ensure food safety.

He made this point during his address at a World Food Day event at Lake Mainstay in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) on Friday.
According to Mustapha, “we must ensure that what we produce reaches consumer efficiently, safely and at affordable prices”.
In this regard, he underscored the importance of investing in systems that improve traceability, to follow the movement of food products and its ingredients through every step of the supply chain.

“Traceability, that’s an important thing for us. We want to trace from where the goods is, where it starts to produce from the farm, to the consumer. Those are important aspects in agricultural production,” the Minister explained.

Traceability is especially important as authorities push to have more locally-produced products utilised in the country’s equally growing tourism and hospitality sector.

In fact, stakeholders such as President of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), Mitra Ramkumar, already highlighted the importance of food safety, quality, and traceability in achieving this objective.

He made the point during an interview with this publication following a meeting between the Ministry of Agriculture and industry stakeholders to discuss ways to establish stronger direct market linkages between local farmers and the hospitality sector, to create greater opportunities for locally produced fruits and vegetables to reach hotels, restaurants and other establishments.

“The challenge is not simply whether farmers can produce. The bigger issue is whether production can be organised around the requirements of the hospitality industry. Hotels and restaurants need consistent quantities, quality, food safety, traceability, proper packaging, reliable delivery, and competitive pricing. Farmers, on the other hand, need greater certainty about the market before they make investments in production. We therefore have to address the entire value chain, from the farm to the hotel kitchen. That means better coordination between buyers and producers, advanced information on what commodities is required, production planning, aggregation, grading and packaging, post-harvest handling, storage and transportation,” the THAG President had outlined just a few months ago.

President Dr Irfaan Ali already underscored the need for stronger surveillance, monitoring, and testing systems within Guyana’s food safety framework as the Government moves to enhance oversight of food products available in supermarkets and markets nationwide.
The Head of State made the remarks during a meeting earlier this year with the leadership and staff of the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD), alongside Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony and Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha. According to the President, the strengthened systems are intended to ensure that all food products meet required standards for quality, safety, labelling, product description and nutritional content.

Following the engagement, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony outlined several areas in which the Government is seeking to improve the country’s food safety architecture, including laboratory capacity, staffing, and inter-Ministerial coordination.

Dr Anthony said the Health and Agriculture Ministries will be working together to strengthen oversight mechanisms across the sector. He further stated that improvements are needed in laboratory systems to expand the range and volume of food testing being conducted. He also pointed to ongoing legislative and institutional changes that are reshaping responsibility for food safety regulation between Ministries.

Meanwhile, during the World Food Day event on Friday, Mustapha emphasised that agriculture development must extend beyond increasing primary production, with greater emphasis on processing, storage, transportation and marketing.

“For too long, we have been a producer of primary product,” he remarked. “Agro-processing must remain an important part of our agricultural transformation…when we do that, we can extend the shelf-life of the product, reduce waste, access new markets and generate additional employment,” he added.

According to the Minister, “we want to see more Guyanese agricultural products on supermarket shelves, hotels, restaurants and export markets.”