The productive sectors of Guyana have seen massive and continuous support from the government over the past four years and the government is already examining what new and additional measures can help these sectors to further expand, President Irfaan Ali said Sunday as the country observes its 55th Republic anniversary.“Not only did we incentivise mining, forestry, agriculture, construction, agro-processing, tourism, fisheries and transportation but we have brought back hope and expanded production,” President Ali told the News Room.“As a government, we will continue to evaluate global situations, including price changes and price differentials, and you can be assured that this government will work towards making necessary adjustments so that our farmers will not be burdened and will not feel the weight of changes in the international trading and market conditions,” the President had stated in his Republic Day address.Last year, the initiatives by government saw the agriculture, fishing, and forestry sector grow by 11 percent in 2024. This growth mainly stemmed from increases in other crops, livestock, and rice growing, with smaller increases in forestry and fishing.Rice is seen as one of the strongest growth areas, with the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) reporting rice production last year at 725,282 metric tonnes, compared with 653,706 metric tonnes in 2023.“Over $70 billion has been spent on improving infrastructure to support enhanced production, higher yield and ease to the burdens of our farmers,” the President said in his message to mark Republic Day.Regarding other crops, significant growth was recorded in the production of vegetables, fruits, root crops, beans and cereals, coconuts and spices, largely on account of increased acreage.Production of corn grew by 154.8 percent while soya bean production grew by 129.2 percent. This is because of the investments which were made by the government.Last year, the livestock industry is estimated to have expanded by 24.6 percent in 2024, with growth observed across all subcategories. Latest estimates show the production of poultry, pork, beef, eggs and milk grew by 31 percent, 35.3 percent, 6.9 percent, 7.6 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively. The notable growth observed for poultry production can be attributed to a reduction in mortality rates following vaccination against the viral disease affecting chickens, the countrywide distribution of baby chicks and the acceleration of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority’s (GLDA’s) breeding programme.The fishing industry recorded an estimated expansion of one percent in 2024, attributed to growth in both marine production and production in the aquaculture industry. Within marine production, shrimp production expanded by an estimated 8.5 percent, outweighing the 2.2 percent contraction estimated for fish production.There were improvements in the production of artisanal and industrial finfish while aquaculture production expanded by 13.7 percent in 2024, with growth of 19.1 percent in the production of brackish water shrimp.The forestry sector grew by an estimated 4.6 percent, mainly driven by growth in logs, roundwood and sawnwood production; an estimated 483,000 cubic metres of timber products were produced last year.“In forestry, G$350 million was injected into the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), leading to 162 new concessions covering 1.6 million acres, while the G$900 million Forestry Revolving Fund has disbursed close to $200 million to stakeholders,” President Ali stated.The post Massive, continuous support for productive sectors – President Ali appeared first on News Room Guyana.