1000 black belly sheep to arrive in Guyana from Barbados next week
One thousand black belly sheep are set to arrive in Guyana from Barbados next week.
Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha recently revealed this by addressing residents of No.28 Village and surrounding communities, region five.
“We will have 1000 black belly sheep coming from Barbados; the ship will be leaving Tuesday to bring these sheep.”
The sheep are expected to arrive in Guyana 48 hours after departure from Barbados. Before the sheep are shipped, they will be examined for signs of illness.
Earlier this year, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali launched the black belly sheep project and declared that Guyana could be the livestock capital of the Caribbean.
It is an investment of US$3 million for 2000 black belly sheep. The second batch of sheep will arrive soon.
Close to 100 farmers have already signalled their intention to be a part of the project making close to 1400 acres of their land available.
“The president has instructed that 30 per cent of women and 20 per cent of youth must be involved in the project, not only men,” the Agriculture Minister noted.
Ali, at the project launch, pointed out that the world import value of mutton and mutton products is US$ 8 billion.
CARICOM alone imports 7,900 tons of mutton at US$48 million annually – the four major markets to be targeted by Guyana are the Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
“We have right within our arms’ reach a market that can generate a value of US$48 million. And who supplies CARICOM right now? Australia and New Zealand. With the cost of freight and logistics cost increase, it is becoming more and more expensive, that is why this is a low hanging fruit, CARICOM is right within our arms reach,” the president then said.
The Government, in its 2022 budget, earmarked $28.7 billion to ensure the rapid growth and development of Guyana’s agriculture sector.
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