Managing Director of Bounty Farm Limited, David Fernandes, believes Guyana’s corn and soya beans project would be able to compete with some of the world’s leading grain producers, such as the United States and Brazil, as crucial input costs will be reduced significantly with the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project.
Fernandes made this statement during a discussion on the Starting Point Podcast, where he explained that the corn and soya beans production is being undertaken by a group of mainly local investors under the name “Tacama Gold”. The investors are the owners of Guyana Stock Feed Limited, Royal Chicken, Edun Farms, SBM Wood, Dubulay Ranch and Bounty Farm Limited, along with the Brazilian-owned N F Agriculture. Fernandes was appointed Lead Director and Chairman of the initiative in 2021.
According to Fernandes, the synergy between lower electricity costs from the GTE initiative and other development efforts will help the local agriculture sector become globally competitive.
“As I mentioned before, the real savings are on freight and not on the cost of production because remember we still have the challenge that there are some benchmarks that we still can’t compete against two of the largest countries in the world, who produce grain, which are the USA and Brazil,” Fernandes explained.
However, he noted that while the government is already working to address these challenges, the GTE project alone will bring significant relief to businesses by cutting electricity costs in half.
“If we could get fuel costs down…if we could get corporate tax down, if we could get logistics cost down, those will be in harmony with the gas-to-shore project that carries electricity down, and I think that if we could get those parameters corrected, we’ll be able to compete against the best in the world,” the businessman asserted.
Fernandes outlined that the corn and soya project, which began trials in 2021, is steadily expanding and showing promising results. After successfully conducting its first trial, the consortium secured land from the government to begin large-scale cultivation.
“We just planted this year about 7,500 acres in total. We’ve harvested some now and will harvest the rest in March next year,” Fernandes said.
He added that the project has the capacity to cultivate up to 15,000 acres. “By 2026, we’ll be greater than 50% of that, and by 202,7 we’ll probably be planting the full land given to us.”
With over US$10 million invested to date, Fernandes acknowledged that agriculture projects typically take three to five years before generating returns. “We believe that 2025 will be the first year we can see some evidence of profit,” he noted.
The businessman disclosed that the project has already surpassed expectations, achieving yields of 3.4 tonnes per 2.5 acres. Currently, he noted that all the grain produced is used in local feed manufacturing.
Even at this stage, he said it is already cheaper than imported feed due to savings on freight.