GEORGETOWN, Guyana - The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB)' Central Laboratory has made history by becoming the first laboratory in Guyana to become accredited to the International Standards Organisation' ISO/IEC 17025 standard. The ISO standard is used by laboratories in developing their management system for quality, administrative and technical operations. Laboratory customers, regulatory authorities and accreditation bodies may also use it in confirming or recognizing the competence of laboratories. Chairman of the Guyana Rice Development Board, Mr. Badri Persaud accepting the Accreditation Certificate from CEO of JANAAC, Mrs. Sharonmae Shirley (left) at the accreditation ceremony recently, while General Manager, Mr. Jagnarine Singh and Quality Manager, Mrs. Allison Peters look on. By earning this standard, the GRBD has achieved several significant milestones including becoming the first laboratory in the region to have: attained accreditation through the CARTFund, the Caribbean Aid for Trade and Regional Integration Trust Fund financed by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). been assisted towards achieving accreditation by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) functioning as the National Accreditation Focal Point (NAFP) become accredited outside of Jamaica utilising the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) earned accreditation through the Caribbean Cooperation for Accreditation (CCA) Scheme created by the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ). The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), a partner in the CARTFund Project, noted that the accreditation was a particularly gratifying step, and a very important achievement for the Project. “A major constraint to trade and market access, even where tariffs have been eliminated, is the ability to comply with sanitary and phytosanitary standards and quality requirements", said Edward Greene, Division Chief, Technical Cooperation Division of the Caribbean Development Bank. “The Accreditation of the GRDB Central Laboratory means that the rice sector in Guyana now has access to accredited testing services. This is a significant milestone in the development of the value chain of the Rice subsector in Guyana". Programme Officer with CARTFund partner DFID, Ms. Rosanne Kadir, shares a light moment with CROSQ representatives, (from left) Mr. Russell Franklyn, Mr. Deryck Omar and Mr. Trumel Redmond. CROSQ' CEO, Mr. Deryck Omar shared the view that this was an excellent example of countries supporting each other using specialised expertise and resources. “This accreditation demonstrates functional regional integration as together each achieves more. It is a positive development to see how the expertise of JANAAC was brought to bear in supporting Guyana in this process. The CCA Scheme has several advantages as conformity assessment bodies receive coaching, training and development assistance towards achieving accreditation. We find this approach to be economical and practical," said Mr. Omar. Permanent Secretary in Guyana' Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. George Jervis further described the achievement of the accreditation as auspicious, because GRDB is the country' lead agency in agriculture. “Prior to this certification, the Guyana Rice Development Board was tasked with sending samples for testing to the USA, which roughly took two weeks for results. Today, we no longer have to take this route. Being ISO/IEC certified is a useful tool which will add credibility by demonstrating that rice coming out of Guyana meets the expectations of our buyers", he said, reading a prepared speech from the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Noel Holder. The accreditation process began under the project in 2014 and was accelerated with receipt of a grant of US$522,401 from the CARTFund. The objective of the CARTFund project is to strengthen the capabilities of testing laboratories in CARIFORUM Member States to provide reliable, competent, internationally recognised and affordable testing services to exporters. CROSQ and the CDB are the implementing partners for the Project.