“Everything About This Project Is Right”- Says President Hoyte As He Opens Flour Mill At Lookout
GOVERNMENT’S policy on divestment remains firm and its sale of the state cassava mill at Lookout, East Bank, Essequibo was in keeping with this programme.
Reiterating this at the opening last week of the flour mill under new owners, Banks DIH, President Desmond Hoyte said the divestment programme has not been as rapid as government would have liked it. ‘We are trying to accelerate the pace,’ he said, however, adding government was proud it facilitated implementation of the project by selling Banks the processing plant and other Lookout assets.
The Banks DIH Lookout plant will be producing cassava, plantain and rice flours to make the national ‘use local’ policy which is important to the food self- sufficiency and self- reliance programme, Mr. Hoyte said.
He said the project also shows the enormous scope for processing local crops into a wide range of products.
In addition, it emphasises the use of local foods and will spur breakfast cereals, snacks and holiday foods. President Hoyte, who formally opened the new project, called it a bold, pioneering effort because it is designed to closely link with farmers in the area.
Government was grateful Banks was showing local rice, cassava and plantain flour can be used to make delicacies of the highest quality but Mr. Hoyte feels the project also demonstrates the role of the private sector in the economic recovery programme.
‘Everything about this project is right and accords fully with national policy and correct development strategy,’ Mr. Hoyte said.
It, he added, was a good example of manufacturing diversification, it promotes the food self-sufficiency objective, is a lesson in creating links in the economy and is based squarely on the use of local crops.
‘One of the most important spin-offs is the opportunity that farmers in the area will have to obtain a secure market and stable, attractive prices for their produce and earn much higher incomes from their farms,’ the President explained. Banks, he said, has already bought from farmers in the area, about 900,000 pounds of cassava and 60,000 pounds of plantains.
‘This is an encouraging start,’ Mr. Hoyte felt and advised that farmers will have to be reliable suppliers.
He referred to government’s offer to make shares in Guyana Stores available to the corporation’s employees and others and said this is intended to be the norm.
‘As we are all aware the idea of widespread public and employee shareholding to which I have been referring has been pioneered in our country by Banks DIH and the late Peter d’Aguiar,’ Mr. Hoyte said.