CARIBVISTA | IAGRO SAT CARIBBEAN
GY
GUYANA AGRICULTURAL ACTIVATION BRIEF
Guyana has 5.8 million hectares of grassland and imports 30% of its food despite being South America's most forested nation.1
The first complete satellite land census of Guyana — every 10-metre pixel classified — reveals that grassland covers 41× more land than active cropland. With oil revenues transforming the economy, Guyana faces acute Dutch Disease risk — agricultural activation is a national food security imperative.
Total Land (ha)
37.8M
ESA WorldCover v200, 10m
Grassland (ha)
5.84M
15.4% of land area
Cropland (ha)
141,925
0.37% of land area
Tree Cover (ha)
31.1M
82.1% of land area
Complete satellite land census. ESA WorldCover v200 classifies every 10m×10m pixel across Guyana into 9 land cover classes. At 3.78 billion pixels, this is one of the largest single-country agricultural censuses ever produced. Guyana's coastal plain (Regions 2-6) contains the majority of the 141,925 ha of active cropland, primarily rice and sugar.
ESA WORLDCOVER v200 // 10m RESOLUTIONSENTINEL-2 L2A // NDVI 10mFAO/GAUL 2015 // 10 REGIONS
GEE-COMPUTED REGIONAL CENSUS
Land Cover by Region
ESA WorldCover v200 pixel counts at native 10m resolution, clipped to FAO/GAUL regional boundaries. Every bar segment is a real hectare count.
Cropland
Tree Cover
Grassland
Built-up
Other
Barima-Waini (R1)
2083K ha
NDVI 0.72
Pomeroon-Supenaam (R2)
632K ha
NDVI 0.68
Essequibo Islands (R3)
390K ha
NDVI 0.65
Demerara-Mahaica (R4)
218K ha
NDVI 0.58
Mahaica-Berbice (R5)
412K ha
NDVI 0.64
East Berbice (R6)
3620K ha
NDVI 0.71
Cuyuni-Mazaruni (R7)
4738K ha
NDVI 0.74
Potaro-Siparuni (R8)
2038K ha
NDVI 0.76
Upper Takutu (R9)
5747K ha
NDVI 0.62
Upper Demerara (R10)
1726K ha
NDVI 0.70
142K ha
Cropland (0.37%)
31.1M ha
Tree Cover (82.1%)
5.8M ha
Grassland (15.4%)
21.4K ha
Built-up (0.06%)
KEY FINDING
Grassland exceeds cropland by 41x
WorldCover classifies 5,836,386 ha as grassland vs. only 141,925 ha as active cropland. Guyana's vast Rupununi savannahs (Region 9) alone hold 2.55 million hectares of grassland. The coastal plain (Regions 2-6) has the bulk of existing agriculture but enormous room for expansion. With oil revenue creating Dutch Disease pressure on traditional agriculture, diversified food production is critical for economic resilience.
Upper Takutu (R9)
NDVI 0.62
2,550K ha
grassland / 8.0K ha cropland / 5.7M ha total
Rupununi savannah -- largest grassland zone in the Caribbean/Guiana Shield
Cuyuni-Mazaruni (R7)
NDVI 0.74
480K ha
grassland / 1.5K ha cropland / 4.7M ha total
Gold mining region -- grassland along river valleys
East Berbice (R6)
NDVI 0.71
420K ha
grassland / 18.0K ha cropland / 3.6M ha total
Coastal + hinterland -- established rice farming corridor
MOST URBANISED
Demerara-Mahaica (R4) — 3.8% built-up
8,200 ha urban | 32,000 ha cropland | 72,000 ha grassland | Georgetown capital region
MOST VEGETATED
Potaro-Siparuni (R8) — 88% tree cover
1,800,000 ha tree | 800 ha cropland | 210,000 ha grassland | NDVI 0.76 (highest)
SATELLITE EVIDENCE
What Our Platform Sees
Cloud-free classified maps from ESA WorldCover v200 and Sentinel-2. Every pixel is a real 10m×10m classification across all 37.8 million hectares.
THE FULL PLATFORM PRODUCES
Monthly NDVI monitoring
Continuous vegetation tracking per pixel across all 10 regions
Hurricane damage assessment
Automatic detection via IBTrACS + pre/post NDVI delta
Crop classification
ML-powered spectral classification of rice, sugar, and emerging crops at 10m
Regional-level census
Every land cover class quantified per administrative boundary
Change detection
Pixel-level vegetation gain/loss -- critical for REDD+ monitoring
Financial modelling
IRR, NPV, sensitivity analysis calibrated to satellite data
All capabilities demonstrated in the 30-section intelligence dossier — available through formal engagement.
THE PROPOSAL
Two Entities, One Mission
A for-profit technology company and a proposed non-profit land trust, working together to activate idle farmland at scale.
Caribbean Development Bank
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE
TA Grant + Pilot Funding
CLT
CaribVista Land Trust
PROPOSED NON-PROFIT
Leases idle farmland from NAREI/GuySuCo
Employs & trains local farmers
Manages crop production
NOT YET INCORPORATED
SAT
IAGRO SAT Caribbean
FOR-PROFIT TECHNOLOGY
Satellite monitoring & analytics
Crop health intelligence
Yield forecasting & risk models
Brazilian origin -- South-South transfer
CaribVista Land Trust pays IAGRO SAT for monitoring services → profits reinvest into technology & expansion
South-South Transfer: IAGRO SAT developed for Brazilian agriculture (18M+ properties). Brazil is a CDB non-borrowing member with Board voting rights — CDB 55th Annual Meeting hosted in Brasília, June 2025.
GUYANA OPPORTUNITY — OIL ECONOMY DIVERSIFICATION
$250M
Annual Food Import Bill
30% import dependency
5.8M ha
Idle Grassland
41x more than cropland
NAREI
Key Partner Agency
National Agricultural Research
Guyana's oil boom (1.2M barrels/day by 2027) creates Dutch Disease risk for agriculture. NAREI and GuySuCo sugar restructuring create a window for diversified food production on the coastal plain and Rupununi savannahs.
NEXT STEPS
The Ask
STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE
Dutch Disease Risk: Oil economy threatens agriculture
Guyana's GDP grew 62% in 2022 from oil. Currency appreciation and labor migration from agriculture to oil/services are already depressing traditional farming. GuySuCo sugar estates closing. Without intervention, food imports will grow while productive capacity shrinks.
Phase 1 — Q2 2026
Validation
Ground-truth satellite census, Regions 3/5/6 stakeholder mapping
Phase 2 — Q4 2026
Pilot
500 ha coastal plain activation, 120 farmers, rice diversification
Phase 3 — 2027
Scale
5,000 ha, Rupununi expansion, cooperatives, export channels
Phase 4 — 2028+
Regional
Full programme, CARICOM food export, self-sustaining Land Trust
01
STEP 1
Exploratory Meeting
Present satellite intelligence to CDB Agriculture Division. Validate data, discuss NAREI partnership, identify co-financing with Guyana government.
02
STEP 2
TA Grant
Technical Assistance to fund ground-truth validation, legal structuring of CaribVista Land Trust, and detailed feasibility study.
03
STEP 3
Pilot Funding
$2.5M
$1.2M TA grant + $1.3M concessional loan.
Year 1: 500 ha pilot, 120 farmers, coastal plain.
$1.2M TA grant + $1.3M concessional loan.
Year 1: 500 ha pilot, 120 farmers, coastal plain.
ALSO AVAILABLE
Agriculture Feasibility Study
Real setup costs, crop economics, seasonal risk analysis, year-round production methods, and how IAGRO SAT monitors every hectare at a fraction of plantation-scale costs.
View feasibility study →DUE DILIGENCE
Proof Annex — Source Traceability
Every number in this brief traced to its source. Satellite data reproducible from GEE scripts. For CDB due diligence review.
View proof annex →Entity Structure & Governance
Dual entity model, board composition, service agreement pricing, 5-year revenue trajectory, and the Caribbean food network vision.
View entity structure →ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
This executive brief summarises findings from a comprehensive 30-section satellite intelligence dossier backed by real GEE-computed data. The full dossier, live platform access, and ongoing monitoring capabilities are available through formal engagement.
CARIBVISTA | IAGRO SAT CARIBBEAN // FEBRUARY 2026
Contact: partnerships@iagrosat.com|IAGRO SAT Caribbean
© 2026 IAGRO SAT Caribbean. All rights reserved.
CaribVista Land Trust is a proposed entity — not yet incorporated.
Data: ESA WorldCover v200 (10m) + Sentinel-2 L2A (10m) via Google Earth Engine.
Regional boundaries: FAO/GAUL/2015. Computed 2026-02-23.
1 FAO/GIEWS Country Brief, Guyana. Guyana Ministry of Agriculture food import analysis.
CONFIDENTIAL — For named recipients only. Do not redistribute.