Dear Editor,
I was always enamoured with the Onverwagt Prawns Project, and now the news has it that it is projected to produce over 360 tonnes of shrimp annually, and is part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s strategy to expand the national shrimp industry, and why? To “… generate income for local farmers and reduce reliance on imported seafood.”
To contextualize what I have just said, I go back to the caption in the press recently, “Locally-farmed Vannamei Shrimp now in Massy Stores.” This is really big, and the details show that the “Massy Stores (Guyana) Inc, in partnership with the Agriculture Ministry, has officially launched the sale of the locally produced Vannamei shrimp from the said Onverwagt Prawns Project, and Guyanese can now access this well-packaged and processed product from their Massy Stores located all across the country.
Quickly let me say a few things about this variety of shrimp, known as the Litopenaeus vannamei. It is the world’s most cultivated shrimp, highly prized for a few good things-its high-density farming capability, disease resistance capability, and rapid growth. I add that it is a highly nutritious, low-fat protein source (approx. 20g/100g) rich in Omega-3 (540mg/100g) and selenium. And very importantly, as of early 2026, farmgate prices range from USD 3.28 to $5.89 per kg for sizes 80 to 30, with Ecuador being a dominant exporter. So outside of the local milieu, Guyana is moving in a direction that has export possibilities.