ECONOMY & TRADE FOCUS
T&T Negotiates Land for Mega Farms in Guyana
Co-op Pushing $M 1,000 Acre Citrus Farming and Processing Project The governments of Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago have reached an agreement that will allow Trinidadian investors to secure land for farming and export of the produce to Trinidad & Tobago. Through this initiative , the T&T based Cooperative Citrus Growers Association (CCGA) of Trinidad and Tobago appears to be first TT Company to take up the opportunity and is forging ahead with a 1,000 Acre Mega Farm project aimed at providing processed citrus juices and pulp for major beverage manufacturers in that country. President of the CCGA of Trinidad & Tobago Felix Clarke said that the project envisages a long-term investment of up to US$25 million on a 1,000-acre citrus complex in the Tacama Savannahs located in Berbice. It may well serve as a template for other investments in farming under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two governments, he said. Clarke stated that the CCGA had already invested around US$1 million in the project, and advised that the co-op was seeking to partner with SM Jaleel & Company, the region’s leading manufacturer of non-alcoholic beverages. Such a partnership, he said, would see the creation of a plant to process the citrus into concentrate for shipment to Trinidad and Tobago. Clarke said the CCGA was also seeking to persuade SM Jaleel to invest in the cultivation aspect of its operations. He said that while the production of any concentrate is “probably five years away” he would expect that other investments in agricultural projects by Trinidadian investors would be informed by the same BusinessFocus Jan / Feb
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“vision and long-term planning” that underpinned the development of the Tacama citrus project. Ongoing since 2010, CCGA’s citrus cultivation project has already brought around 175 acres of fruit under cultivation. Around 20-25 acres are bearing. However, Clarke who is a citrus farmer and owner of a 50-acre plot in Trinidad and Tobago, said its design allows for “long term” benefit for significant numbers of Guyanese including potential investors. Meanwhile, in order to generate income during the intervening period, the CCGA had embarked on the production of various “companion crops” including cassava, red peas, pigeon peas, sorrel, watermelon, pumpkin, pepper and sweet corn, all of which have secured local markets. Clarke said the CCGA has entered into an agreement with Gerald Mekdeci for the supply of pre-processed cassava. The entity is contracted to peel the cassava, cut it into logs, freeze it and deliver the cassava logs to Mekdeci for the production of frozen cassava fries. CCGA’s investment in its local citrus operation is designed to eventually reduce the costs associated with importing citrus concentrates from Belize to supply T&T factories, including SM Jaleel and Nestle. Clarke said that concentrate apart, CCGA would explore the possible use of fruit pulp in the manufacture of various types of animal feed. At the same time the CCGA Head says that the organisation is seeking to persuade groups of local farmers to buy into the project by entering into agreements with the CCGA to undertake citrus cultivation on parts of its leased plot.
Cassava Farm
Cassava Root
Tacama citrus nursery