Known as the “breadbasket of the Caribbean,” the small nation of Guyana has always had a strong agricultural presence. Guyana grows large amounts of rice and sugarcane, both for local consumption and export. Rice is a staple of the Guyanese diet and makes its way into a number of local dishes, including “cook up rice” (a popular and versatile dish that is made in a single pot). The local bank GBTI, which is a large supporter of the agricultural industry in Guyana, offers a range of competitive loans designed specifically for agricultural ventures in rice and sugarcane, as well as other crops. While there have been ventures into raising livestock and growing other types of cash crops, rice remains a staple of the Guyanese agricultural industry and has been an important aspect of the country’s economy for many years. Here’s a look at the history of rice farming and how it began in Guyana.

An Ancient Crop

The history of rice as a cultivated crop dates back to between 10,000 and 14,000 years ago. Evidence and artifacts found in China point to the Yangtze and Huai rivers as the earliest points of domestication of Oryza sativa (domesticated from a wild grass called Oryza rufipogon). Farming equipment and other tools believed to have been used with rice have been found in China dating back as far as 8,000 years ago. Rice would soon spread throughout the rest of the civilized world and establish its place as a staple of global cuisine, one that it continues to hold today.

There are two main subspecies of this type of domesticated rice, known as indica and japonica. Indica rice thrives in tropical climates, while japonica rice grows best in subtropical and temperate climates, like those found in East Asia. Another domesticated rice, Oryza glaberrima, came onto the global scene much later, developing in West Africa. As the rest of the world began to be colonized, the farming of rice would spread to those settlers, soon making its way to the Americas and other areas.

Rice in the Caribbean

Rice is not native to the Caribbean region. Just like in many other areas colonized by Europeans, rice was introduced by the early settlers who arrived in the region. For Guyana, that meant rice was introduced by Dutch settlers in the early 18th century. In 1738, the Dutch Governor of Essequibo (Laurens Storm van Gravesande) introduced the crop as a means of supplementing the diet of slave laborers working on sugarcane estates in the country. As indentured workers began to arrive later from East India, the demand for rice continued to increase. Many of the workers decided to stay in Guyana and began to cultivate rice on their own plots of land, which soon pushed the production of rice beyond what was needed for local consumption. The initial export of rice from Guyana occurred in 1896, when it was shipped off to Trinidad.

After the initial export, Guyana’s rice industry expanded, with exports heading to the West Indies, partly due to a reduction in shipments from the United States and Asia during World War I. By the end of World War II, Guyana had become the main supplier of rice to the market for the West Indies and also had established a marketing organization for rice in 1939. In 1946, both the British Guiana Rice Marketing Board (BGRMB) and the British Guiana Rice Producers Association (BGRPA) were established, and between the years of 1946 and 1950, Guyana was exporting around one-third of the rice that it produced (approximately 22,991 tons of rice paddy on average). Guyana earned the label of “the breadbasket of the Caribbean” by 1956, and after achieving its independence 10 years later, rice production had reached an average of 167,600 tons annually.

Rice in Guyana Today

Today, rice is the second largest crop in Guyana’s agricultural industry, second only to sugarcane in production. Rice is produced by a group of private farmers, as well as the Guyanese Rice Milling and Marketing Authority. Although a large portion of the rice that is produced is still kept in the country for local consumption, Guyana exports rice to several countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Suriname, Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, and other nations that are a part of CARICOM. The largest importers of rice from Guyana are Latin American countries, including Venezuela (with 34% of exports in 2019). In 2019, the second-largest importer of rice was Portugal (with 12% of total exports in 2019).

In spite of issues with inconsistent weather and other problems, 2019 was a big year for rice production in Guyana. The country produced more than 1 million tons of paddy in 2019, its second-largest production year on record. Annual average yields for rice production are continuing to increase steadily. Experts believe that rice production in Guyana will likely continue to grow in the next several years.

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[Meta Description: Guyana has a growing aquaculture industry. In this article, we look at aquaculture’s potential to provide a sustainable source of food for the world.]

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Title: Spotlight – Aquaculture Could Provide a Sustainable Solution

Guyana is well-known for its agricultural industry, particularly when it comes to the production of rice and sugarcane. In fact, the country has been known by the nickname “the breadbasket of the Caribbean” since the late 1950s. However, rice and sugarcane are not the only factors that contribute to Guyana’s agricultural industry. The country also has a growing aquaculture sector, which is just beginning to make its mark in the country. The aquaculture industry offers significant potential to aid the fight against food scarcity and to improve the population of various types of marine life at the same time. Read on to learn how aquaculture could be used as a tool to help improve sustainability, particularly in the areas of fish and marine life within the global food market.

What Is Aquaculture?

Aquaculture, which is more commonly known as fish farming, involves the organized cultivation of various types of marine life, ranging from fish to shrimp and other animals. Aquaculture is a versatile industry, as animals can be raised in pens within the ocean, as well as in large tanks on land, which makes it relatively easy to do in a variety of areas. Commonly farmed marine animals include tilapia, salmon, and shrimp, and there is great potential to expand this into other types of aquatic animals, including those that have been subject to over-fishing practices and habitat destruction in the wild. The global consumption of seafood remains high, and traditional fishing methods are no longer able to source enough. Fish farming is a potential solution for combatting global food problems created by a continuously growing population combined with a steady decrease in available land to raise traditional crops and livestock. Since fish and other marine life can be raised in tanks, as well as in pens in the ocean, the potential is strong for these animals to be raised in places where cultivating other livestock and crops would not be possible.Already, aquaculture provides nearly 50% of the world’s seafood. As long as aquaculture is practiced responsibly, it will be able to provide sustainable seafood that will ultimately benefit everyone.

Potential Opportunities

Aquaculture also provides a number of opportunities, both in terms of sustainability and as a source of food. As the global population continues to increase each year, producing enough food to feed people around the world is a continuing problem. With half of the world’s seafood already coming from aquaculture, it could potentially serve as an excellent source of food and help to reduce food scarcity around the world. Aquaculture may also present an opportunity to increase the population of certain wild species that are becoming more scarce due to overfishing and habitat destruction. These species could conceivably be raised in captivity and eventually released back into the ocean.

Sustainable Practices

There are several ways that aquaculture can be made more sustainable as it continues to grow and become more common. One of the best ways to reduce the environmental impact of aquaculture and to improve its sustainability is to move to more recirculating, exclusively land-based systems. These provide an opportunity to achieve nearly 100% water recycling within the system, reducing waste and allowing aquaculture to be practiced anywhere. Land-based systems could offer exciting opportunities for desert or urban-based communities to produce fish and other marine life close to home. As the distance between production and consumption is reduced, the environmental impact of food transportation is decreased, as well, making production more sustainable.

The offshore production of fish is also an option. Most aquaculture currently occurs in tanks on land or in nets placed directly offshore. But with so much more open ocean to use, why not move some aquaculture operations offshore? These areas have fewer nutrients and less biodiversity than coastal areas, making it easier to disperse any waste produced and lessen the impact that it would otherwise have on the overall environment. Additionally, there is more open ocean in the world than we would likely ever be able to use, which is beneficial, as the amount of available land to use tanks becomes scarce.

Aquaculture has great potential to become more sustainable, and if it does, it could become a major source of food for the global community. As new and emerging aquaculture markets get started, like those in Guyana, farmers would do well to explore sustainable farming methods as the industry grows.