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Chairman of NOVO Farms Glen Ramdhanie talks to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at their Point Lisas business park base prior to the signing of an MoU between NOVO and the Government of Guyana. Photo by Lincoln Holder
AS another step towards Caricom’s goal of reducing its food import bill by 25 percent by 2025, Novo Farms signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Guyana’s Investment Office in Couva on Thursday.
Novo chairman Glen Ramdhani, who signed on the dotted line alongside Dr Peter R Ramsaroop, MBA, chief investment officer, Office of the President and Government of Guyana, told Newsday that the aim is to create and replicate a agro-processing facility in Guyana. . He said they hope to break ground within six months.
Novo has infused technology with agriculture to develop an instant food line of products including baigan and choka tomato, dhal, callaloo, pumpkin, sweet potato, cassava and dasheen chips, flour and pasta, among other products.
“The intention is to replicate everything we have here with technology and innovation in Guyana to help build the agri sector.
“Our vision for Caricom is for Tridad and Tobago to be the processing hub for the region, with Guyana being the food basket, with a processing element, which would help feed our core operations in TT. “
Ramsaroop said discussions with NOVO began a few months ago and they are ready to expand operations outside Guyana, given that his country has such an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and easy access to water.
He said that Guyana, which is growing its agricultural products significantly, has sought to attract investors to the sector.
“Food security is a huge component in our region and we look forward to the partnership.”
Ramsaroop said Novo representatives will be arriving in Guyana soon to look at the best placement for them and what they would like to pack.
“You know that added value is important. We are importing a lot of food into the Caribbean every year – over $5 and $6 billion in imports.
“The President (of Guyana) and Caricom have a goal of reducing Caricom’s bill by 25 percent by 2025. This is another step in that direction that would adapt Guyana’s value-added products to reduce that bill.
Guyana’s Agriculture Minister Zulifikar Mustapha, who witnessed the signing alongside Trinidad and Tobago’s Agriculture Minister Kazim Hosein and the prime minister, echoed Ramsaroop’s sentiments.
“What we are trying to do in the Caribbean, as the chair of the ministerial task force in Caricom, we are also looking to move away from the primary products that farmers produce and make it value added.
“Most of the time our main products are exported to North America and other parts of the world, where they are developed, value added – and then we import these products.
“We want to get away from this. If we can add value, lower the food import bill, because we will produce it, farmers will have more money, agro-processors will have an ongoing business.
“At the same time, we will have a product in the Caribbean to satisfy the Caribbean market, rather than importing it from North America and other countries it goes to.
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“This is a way we are looking in the Caribbean to reduce our food import bill to develop our agro-processing hub by producing more healthy alternatives – such as our sweet potatoes, eddoes, dasheen, cassava – to the white potatoes found at KFC and other chicken houses.
“So we are looking to activate a process where we can make citizens eat healthy and produce locally. That bodes well for us.”
Mustapha, who is in Trinidad with other Caricom leaders to attend the TT Agri Investment Forum, said this is a continuation of what was held earlier this year in Guyana.
“I hope that other Caribbean and other Caricom countries can follow the example of Trinidad, so we can have this as a regular cycle and attract investors to come to the Caribbean, invest and produce those foods that we want to produce and reduce the food import bill.
He said Novo is not the only company they hope to attract to Guyana while they are here. A greenhouse company from Tobago is already working towards establishing a hydroponic branch.
“This is one of the agro-processing companies. But we would work with a number of other companies to ensure that we develop the agro-processing and agriculture sectors.”
Mustapha said such initiatives will act as a catalyst to deepen and strengthen trade relations among Caricom member countries.
Over the past few months, he said, the artificial barriers that were there before have slowly disappeared.
