HGP Nightly News – The government is considering a dedicated cargo service between Charity and Moruca to reduce the transportation costs pushing up food prices across the sub-region, President Irfaan Ali announced on Wednesday.
Addressing residents during an outreach in Santa Rosa, Ali identified expensive transport and limited local production as two of the main factors driving Moruca’s cost of living.
The proposed service would move food and other essential goods from Charity at lower rates. Ali said it could be operated by a consortium of young entrepreneurs with financing and other support from the Guyana Development Bank.
Details such as the cost, launch date, frequency of trips and level of government support were not announced.
“In addressing the issue of cost of living, we have to address the issue of transportation,” Ali said. “We have to address the issue of food production. We have to address the issue of infrastructure.”
The cargo service is intended to offer more immediate relief, but the President acknowledged that cheaper transportation alone would not solve the problem.
Moruca’s longer-term food security, he said, depends on producing more of what residents consume.
“There is only one sure way of securing our communities, and that is improving our own ability to produce our own food,” Ali told the gathering.
The government plans to support an expansion of agriculture in the sub-region, including poultry farming, through financing from the development bank.
Greater production could reduce Moruca’s dependence on food transported from the coast, lowering some prices while creating income for farmers and young business owners.
That approach involves trade-offs. Expanding local agriculture requires financing, reliable feed and other inputs, technical support, storage and a market large enough to keep producers viable. Transport will also remain necessary for goods that cannot be produced competitively within the sub-region.
Ali said the government intends to address those issues together rather than treat food prices as a single transportation problem.
The proposed measures form part of a wider effort to improve food availability, encourage entrepreneurship and reduce the cost of essential goods in hinterland and riverain communities.
