Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha met with a delegation from Barbados, headed by Minister of Agriculture and Food and Nutritional Security, Dr. Shantal Munro-Knight, on Monday to discuss areas of mutual interest and continued collaboration to advance food security and regional sustainability within the agriculture sector.
One of the main areas discussed was the success of the Black Belly Sheep programme, through which Guyana received 1,000 head of Black Belly sheep from Barbados.
Minister Mustapha noted that since the project was launched in Region Five in March 2022 by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, significant progress has been made, with the national herd now exceeding 5,000. He also explained that the cross-breeding component of the initiative has also commenced, as the Government of Guyana advances efforts to develop a regional brand aimed at reducing the importation of mutton from New Zealand.
This, he added, is in keeping with CARICOM’s “25 by 2025 + 5” Initiative, which seeks to reduce the regional food import bill by 25% by the end of 2030.
The officials also discussed other ongoing collaborations between the two member states, including the shade house programme, the regional food hub initiative, the regional ferry service, and the brackish water shrimp programme.
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