Minister Zulfikar Mustapha unveiling signage of the biotech plant tissue culture
lab
GEORGETOWN, Guyana--Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Tuesday commissioned the country’s first biotechnology plant tissue culture laboratory.
With an investment of approximately $450 million, the new laboratory forms part of the government’s broader strategy to promote sustainable agriculture development across Guyana.
While delivering the feature address during the commissioning ceremony, Mustapha said the government has consistently prioritised agriculture, recognising it as a cornerstone of the non-oil economy. He further stated that Guyana’s agricultural sector has grown steadily, contributing significantly to GDP, creating jobs, and boosting exports.
“Over time, this increases the national supply of key crops such as plantains, pineapples, citrus, and root crops, which will strengthen domestic food security and sustain the local agro-processing industries, such as fruit processing, packaging, and export,” he explained.
The new laboratory, developed in collaboration with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India and financed through the Inter-American Development Bank under the Sustainable Agricultural Development Program (SADP), is designed to produce over 1 million plantlets per year, compared to the previous 15,000.
It will provide clean, high-yielding, disease-free planting material for crops such as pineapple, citrus, plantain, sweet potato, breadfruit, sugarcane, and even exotic fruits like strawberries and blackberries.
