Wageningen University and Research – an organization that is built up of a public research university and a non-profit research institute in Wageningen, Netherlands – is currently fielding a mission to Guyana to explore opportunities for collaboration in sustainable agriculture, food systems, climate resilience and biodiversity management.
Wageningen University and Research combines academic research with applied science to address global challenges related to food security, agriculture, climate alter and environmental sustainability.
Head of Cooperation at the European Union (EU), Joan Nadal Sastre stated the visit is a direct follow-up to the European Union-funded mission under the Global Gateway that saw Guyanese representatives visiting European institutions such as Wageningen last November.
The Manager for International Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean at Wageningen, Ria Hulsman stated they have thus far held talks with the Guyana School of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI).
She stated from those discussions it is clear that Guyana is powering its Agriculture Sector with significant investments in critical areas such as agro-processing, and the apply of technology to increase production.
“We are very much impressed with the investments that are built and I believe there is also a huge will of young people to work in this sector which is very positive. So, we saw a lot of installations in the Guyana School of Agriculture. We will visit the University of Guyana, and we were two days toobtainher with NAREI visiting their demonstration farms in District 5 and we believe as a university, as a research institute we could offer and work toobtainher to push toobtainher this sector, and especially the agro-business sector,” Hulsman notified reporters.
Wageningen International Project Manager, Jouke Campen stated he was very impressed by the high level of youth involvement in Agriculture in Guyana at a time when many are leaning towards Technology.
“I am also very impressed by the knowledge network already in placed in Guyana, the Guyana School of Agriculture, and it is a really impressive place where young people are stimulated to go into Agriculture, which is very important becaapply a lot of young people are not really interested, they want to go into IT,” he stated.
Through Wageningen, Hulsman and Campen are exploring how the University can support Guyana’s agricultural transformation while maintaining strong climate and biodiversity safeguards.
Head of the European Union Delegation to Guyana, Ambassador Luca Pierantoni the visit by the Wageningen University Delegation forms part of the EU’s push to foster greater partnership between EU and Guyana.
He stated there is great opportunity for business to business partnership.
“It seems that there are a lot of interests from both sides. We are talking about partnerships that are mutually beneficial for Europeans to increase their presence here, and for Guyanese to increase their presence in Europe, and for Europeans and Guyanese to work toobtainher to improve the production lines, the capacity of finding markets, new markets for products,” Ambassador Pierantoni stated.
He stated this year, the EU is organizing three new business missions in consultation with its Member States and local players in Guyana including the Private Sector, Go-Invest and the Government.
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