Government is seeking to lay the base for agricultural expansion in Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) which once depended solely on mining.
The Cara Cara mined out areas consisting of six acres of land will be used to cultivate pasture grasses, some citrus, cashew nut and other crops. Farmers are also utilizing newer technology such as drip irrigation, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
And to date some $26M has been spent on cleaning and excavating of drainage channels but dredging of the Cara Cara Creek was affected because of a technical problem, GINA said. However, the agriculture ministry has requested help from the mining company and work is expected to commence shortly. A contract was awarded to build a specialized pontoon to accommodate machinery to execute work in the area, GINA said.
Several outfalls, sluices and channels are being cleared and later an excavator will be deployed to the area. Other investments for the region, according to GINA, include the construction of a seedling house at Christianburg which will ensure the availability of seedlings all year round.
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud visited the region last week to update farmers on agricultural development works and to extend the ‘Grow more’ campaign during meetings with farmers and residents at West Watooka, Linden and Moblissa, Linden/Soesdyke Highway, GINA reported.
Persaud said that significant investment has been made in the region to assist in agricultural development and to create the base for farmers to enhance cultivation.
With the support of the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP), the ministry is working to assist farmers to become commercially viable. “If we want to develop agriculture we must look at value-added and processing,” Minister Persaud said.
The ‘Grow more’ campaign is market driven and in this regard the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) is the facilitator. New marketing opportunities are opening up in Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago and these, Persaud noted, are very sensitive and as such “farmers have to gear themselves to the requirement to meet these needs”. Under a US$21.9M agricultural diversification programme the ministry has brought in foreign consultants. At present a spice expert from India is in the country to develop the local spice industry and the Brazilian government recently donated a quantity of soya beans and cashew nut seeds.
Meeting residents at Moblissa, Persaud said the ministry will look at improving the genetic breed of cattle in the area which has been identified for major agricultural development with the support of LEAP.
Farmers also benefited from the distribution of plants, seeds, chemicals, booklets, farmers’ manuals and kits during the minister’s visit, GINA added.
