 ug agriculture ministry consult on food and nutrition security ug agriculture ministry consult on food and nutrition security ug agriculture ministry consult on food and nutrition security webmaster sat 11042017 1620 with a determined goal to actualise local food security the university of guyana ug has collaborated with the ministry of agriculture to examine the possibility of establishing an institute of food security the consultation which opened this morning at the marriot international hotel seeks to raise awareness and assess the status of food security in guyana and the caribbean region and assess the role an institute would have locally and regionally minister of agriculture noel holder delivering the feature address at the forum signalled his support for the establishment of the aforementioned institute he said guyana has generally been regarded as the breadbasket of the caribbean being a net exporter of food in caricom the region is not sleeping especially guyana with an investment of over us 60 million in agriculture over the past decade guyana has been addressing all areas of food security from the reorganisation of the support systems legislative upgrades stimulation of production implementation of new standards such as good agricultural practices gap to the introduction of good manufacturing practices and haccp in the agroprocessing industry minister holder explained according to him this places the country in a position of great responsibility with challenges to meet the region s food needs in the event of another food crisis while ensuring that guyanese are afforded ready access to food of sound nutritional quality deputy vicechancellor vc university of guyana professor ivelaw griffith said much consideration needs to be given to the real purpose of the country s premier tertiary institution and the role it plays in the agriculture sector as any university that is beholden to serving a nation thinks about what it does and how it does it it has to ask the question are we doing what we need to do to address those clear and present dangers he said the clear and present danger in guyana in relation to food security is intimately connected to the matter of food security within and beyond the region the ug vicechancellor said even as guyana moves into the oil and gas sector an area that is poised to boost the country s economy it need not repeat the mistakes of other countries and neglect the agriculture sector the pull of the oil and gas leads to a push away from certain industries and i would really like for us not to fall victim of that to keep our eyes on the agriculture prize knowing that we also have many preconditions to not only do better for our nation but to better for the world he added it was hoped that at the end of the consultation there could be a status report on food production and stability accessibility and nutritional quality of available food in guyana and a strategy on the status of the food and nutrition security in guyana and the wider caricom region article adapted from  http ginagovgy ugagricultureministryconsultonfoodandnutritionsecu  agriculture minister of agriculture food nutrition security 