During Dr. Manuel Otero’s visit to Georgetown, both Minister Mustapha and President Ali congratulated IICA for its contribution to this development, which strengthens the position of Guyana, a country that is making an effort to grow and sustain its agriculture and intends to be self-sufficient in commodities such as corn and soybeans by 2026.
The Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, toured the facilities of one of the experimental stations of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), a semi-autonomous organization dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture that investigates the adaptability of different varieties to the country’s environments. Georgetown, 21 March 2024 (IICA) – After more than three years of joint scientific research and experimentation, the Government of Guyana and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) have developed the region’s first biofortified rice variety, which is an extremely important contribution to the country’s food and nutrition security and can be extended to the entire Caribbean region.
This rice variety, whose nutritional richness is based on high levels of zinc, was launched in October 2023 with the participation of Guyana’s Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha.
It is already being produced in Guyana on a small scale and is expected to make a significant contribution to the development of the country, which along with the rest of the Caribbean nations has set itself the goal of reducing
its food imports by 25% by 2025. The Director General of IICA, Dr. Manuel Otero, who is on a working visit to Georgetown, the country’s capital, was received by President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, toured the facilities of one of the experimental stations of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), semi-automous agency under the Ministry of Agriculture that researches the adaptability of different varieties to the country’s environments, the Americas, which provided technical and financial support to rice producers.
“The next goal is to start producing this variety on a large scale, so that Guyana can have rice with this food as a healthy supplement. In this way we will be able to increase not only the income of our farmers but the health of our people in the country and the rest of the Caribbean,” said Minister Mustapha.
During Dr. Otero’s visit to Georgetown, both Minister Mustapha and President Ali congratulated IICA for its contribution to this development, which strengthens the position of Guyana, a country that is making an effort to grow and sustain its agriculture and intends to be selfsufficient in commodities such as corn and soybeans by 2026.
The joint work of the GRDB and IICA was the result of a special request from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a union of countries that is committed to strengthening the resilience of food production in the region, which has been severely affected by the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. as a result of climate change. High agricultural yields As explained, GRDB IICA-17 biofortified rice has high yields of up to 8 tons per hectare and can be sold at better prices for the benefit of farmers.
It was developed through conventional farming practices, without genetic modification, as rice naturally accumulates higher levels of zinc than usual. Zinc is essential for the proper functioning of people’s immune systems and the fight against infectious diseases such as Covid-19.
There are currently about 600 hectares (1450 acres) in Guyana under biofortified rice production, and part of the harvest will be destined for Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, in the Caribbean region, and Spain and Portugal, in Europe, at a differentiated price, according to the IICA Representative in Guyana, Wilmot Garnett. “We are working with specialists to explain the benefits of this variety for nutrition and human health, in order to develop an adequate information and promotion strategy,” he added.
Garnett revealed that the proposed goal is that within two to three years biofortified rice will constitute 50% of the
GRDB IICA-17 biofortified rice has high yields of up to 8 tons per hectare and can be sold at better prices for the benefit of farmers. It was developed through conventional farming practices, without genetic modification, as rice naturally accumulates higher levels of zinc than usual. country’s total production of rice, which is a fundamental and daily food on the table of Guyanese and all inhabitants of the Caribbean.
The introduction of biofortified rice is expected to have a major impact on Guyana’s agriculture and economy, thanks to its superior nutritional intake that will make it an attractive option domestically and also in international markets. Minister Mustapha stressed that it is also a tool to meet the challenges of climate change, as it has greater resilience to adverse weather conditions.
much more work is needed to check it would be safe and effective. Existing HIV medicines can stop the virus but not eliminate it. The University of Amsterdam team, presenting a synopsis, or abstract, of their early findings at a medical conference this week, stress their work remains merely “proof of concept” and will not become a cure for HIV any time soon.
And Dr James Dixon, stem-cell and gene-therapy technologies associate professor at the University of Nottingham, agrees, saying the full findings still require scrutiny. “Much more work will be needed to demonstrate results in these cell assays can happen in an entire body for a future therapy,” he said.
“There will be much more development needed before this could have impact on those with HIV.” ‘Extremely challenging’ Other scientists are also trying to use Crispr against HIV. And Excision BioTherapeutics says after 48 weeks, three volunteers with HIV have no serious side effects.
But Dr Jonathan Stoye, a virus expert at the Francis Crick Institute, in London, said removing HIV from all the cells that might harbour it in the body was “extremely challenging”. “Off-target effects of the treatment, with possible long-term side effects, remain a concern,” he said.
“It therefore seems likely that many years will elapse before any such Crisprbased therapy becomes routine – even assuming that it can be shown to be effective.” HIV infects and attacks immunesystem cells, using their own machinery to make copies of itself. Even with effective treatment, some go into a resting, or latent, state – so they still contain the DNA, or genetic 11 – NEW RELEASE – material, of HIV, even if not actively producing new virus.
Most people with HIV need life-long antiretroviral therapy. If they stop taking these drugs, the dormant virus can reawaken and cause problems again. A rare few have been apparently “cured”, after aggressive cancer therapy wiped out some of their infected cells, but this would never be recommended purely to treat HIV.
People who stay on antiretroviral treatment, which is very effective, can have the same life expectancy as people without HIV, for example. Richard Angell from the Terrence Higgins Trust said: “While year and years away, today’s research is an important step in the search for an HIV cure.
The work needed to transform this technology into a cure for those already living with HIV should be expedited. “While there’s no cure for HIV yet, it’s vital everyone knows we have incredibly effective HIV treatment. That treatment means people living with HIV can expect to live long and healthy lives.
If they take their medication as prescribed, they cannot pass the virus onto their sexual partners. PrEP, a free pill that protects you from HIV, is available for HIV negative people from sexual health clinics across the UK.
We have all of the tools necessary to end new HIV cases in the UK by 2030 – and mark the first time a virus was stopped without a vaccine nor cure.”
