India based company, Agri Ministry sign MoU to cultivate millets in Guyana

Zulfikar Mustapha and an official from UPL Limited signing the MoU for millets trials in Guyana (Photo: Ministry of Agriculture)

Millets are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food.

Prior to that, President Dr. Irfaan Ali, during a virtual address at the inauguration of the conference, the Global Millet Conference in New Delhi, India disclosed that Guyana will soon commence cultivation trials for millets production in Regions Four, Nine, and Ten to support the transition to large-scale production of the seed locally.

The release said that UPL Limited will provide new technology and agriculture inputs while the government will assist with developing approximately 200 acres for the cultivation of millet.

The Head of State previously noted that the production of millet will help support poverty reduction efforts and that the areas earmarked for the trials represent the profit zone in which similar crops like corn and soya are adaptive and being produced on a large scale.

“Guyana looks forward to strengthening its cooperation with India to kickstart large, medium, and small-scale production of millets. India is the largest millet producer in the world, and through collaboration, Guyana hopes to embark soon on the sustainable production of millets,” President Ali said.

During the signing, Minister Mustapha said that Guyana was pleased to commence trials for millet cultivation. He noted that Guyana was leading the agriculture agenda in CARICOM in keeping with the region’s Vision 25 by 2025 and that millets would contribute significantly to those efforts.