Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud said in keeping with efforts to further diversify agriculture production farmers should organise themselves into clusters in order to boost production and tap into available market opportunities.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, Persaud and a number of technical officers from the ministry on Sunday met with farmers at Timehri and its environs at the National Agricultural and Extension Institute.
The meeting was aimed at ensuring that the farmers are fully equipped with the necessary skills to enhance production and productivity and take advantage of available markets.
In his address, Persaud noted that “Globally there is a food shortage and prices are going up everyday, and even our exports here are increasing, and as such we need to constantly organise our farmers. We have an agriculture diversification project, which is not only about planting, but to do things in a way that they can be sustainable.” He also told farmers that they need to become more actively involved if they are to benefit from government support and encouraged them to make use of the newly-established credit facility through the Institute of Private Enterprise Development.
Persaud noted that if the region is to seriously deal with food security, there must be strong support for the regional agriculture initiative to further facilitate increased self-reliance in addressing challenges and ensuring suitable development.
He noted too that this is yet another reason why forming clusters is important as no single farmer can meet supply. “So we want to bring farmers together in ensuring that they work with larger farmers, so that we can do things more viable in the long term,” he said.
To facilitate this, government has also established packaging facilities countrywide across the country, including at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. The minister also encouraged farmers to become engaged in strategic interventions to benefit the industry in the long term.
GINA said the National Budget allocated a 22 per cent increase for agriculture – $9.1B compared with $8B last year. Of this sum, $1.5B is being spent on agriculture diversification with the aim of building the capacity of small farmers, particularly for livestock farming. “We have already started a credit facility for farmers’ groups and to date we are looking to establish another one for larger farmers who are part of the clusters,” Persaud noted.
According to GINA, farmers also voiced concerns about more access to lands at Alliance, land owners not occupying land, the Lands and Survey Commission not handling matters professionally, the rehabilitation of access roads, substandard work by contractors, inept koker attendants, Acoushi ants-infestation and post-harvest training for farmers.
