Suriname is blessed with fertile soil, abundant water, sunlight and a strategic location. Yet today we are faced with a painful truth: our agricultural sector, once the pride of the country, has declined severely. We now import ginger, soursop and sweet potato French fries, products we ourselves once produced in abundance. Our markets face structural shortages, while along the coastal plain hundreds of thousands of acres lie unused. The rice sector, for years the backbone of our economy, has virtually collapsed. In 2023, we barely exported $22 million worth of rice, while neighboring countries like Guyana generate hundreds of millions from the same crop.
The causes of this decline are painfully obvious. Pesticide use is poorly regulated, which has stopped our access to the European market on several occasions. Rice farmers face outdated machinery, high input prices and unstable sales. Young Surinamese shun agriculture because it offers no security and seems to have little perspective. The once influential knowledge institutes Adron and Celos are operating at only a fraction of their capacity. Without ownership security, without modern technology, without a clear vision for exports, the agricultural sector is slowly deflating.
Still, there is hope. The government began land reforms in 2024. Land that has been farmed in limbo for years can now be converted to legal ownership. This development is crucial because ownership provides security and encourages investment. Regulations around pesticide use have also been tightened, with the goal of restoring our export position toward Europe. Several small entrepreneurs are experimenting with aquaponics and modern cultivation techniques. The first step has been taken, but the pace must be increased.
Suriname need not gamble. There are countries around the world that have impressively reformed their agriculture, often from worse starting points than ours. In Rwanda, millions of property titles were issued to farmers after the genocide, leading to an unprecedented increase in productivity and food security. In Vietnam, small-scale innovation transformed agriculture: drip irrigation, market price apps and village-owned processing facilities turned the country into a top-three rice exporter. Costa Rica established an agricultural university that trains young entrepreneurs in sustainable, profitable agricultural practices. Colombia and Ghana showed that with niche products and labels like Fairtrade and GlobalG.A.P., you can successfully conquer international markets. And in Nigeria and Belize, agricultural parks were built with shared infrastructure from refrigeration facilities to export packaging, giving small-scale farmers access to global markets.
What these countries had in common was vision. They saw agriculture not as a sector for the poor, but as an engine for national development. That same change in mentality must also permeate Suriname. Agriculture is not a thing of the past. It is the future - provided we dare to reform.
We must rebuild our research institutes or replace them with modern institutions that do make an impact. Adron can once again become the heart of rice innovation, provided we link it to international expertise. Celos can evolve into a climate institute that focuses on soil restoration, crop diversification and sustainable production. Instead of practicing land politics, we should activate lands with clear titles attached to production contracts. Instead of scattering subsidies, we should invest in cooperative processing, logistics and export logistics. And instead of remaining dependent on foreign vegetables, we must regain our food sovereignty.
Suriname has everything it needs to be an agricultural country of significance. What is missing is courage. Dare to do things differently. Dare to not just long for the past, but to build something better. We no longer leave acres unused. We no longer tolerate structural shortages in our markets. We bring our young people back to the country as entrepreneurs, not government dependents. We export again, but clean, certified and world-class.
Suriname's future lies not in dependence, but in production. Not in subsidy, but in ownership. Not in backwardness, but in leadership. It is time for us to stand up. Because this country is fertile and so are we.
