Dear Editor,
The continued discussion about the Grow More Food campaign, the many letters to the editor and the editorial in Stabroek News ail makes interesting reading, especially those letters written by Dr Kenrick Hunte, the former general manager of the now defunct Guyana Agricultural and Industrial Development Bank. Many of his letters quoted figures both past and present and many if not all were never rebutted by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Although I will say the Grow More Food campaign so far is not successful, I would say that the concept is a good one, but the way it been implemented is poor so that the results will also be poor. I was born and grew up on the Essequibo Coast (Region 2), and when one looks at the amount of food imported into this region and the cost of same, to say that the campaign so far is not a success would be a fair comment.
Having regard to the amount of money spent on this exercise, and the fact that nobody likes to associate themselves with failure, the highly paid public relations officers and other senior agricultural officials will spend a lot of time writing and doing other things so as to make it appear otherwise. As I have said before the best persons to say if this campaign is highly successful or is a big-time failure are the housewives, the consumers and the vendors, and not the promoters who are paid to ensure that it is successful.
Yours faithfully,
Archie W Cordis
