In a bid to revitalize agriculture and address unemployment in several villages, which Minister of Finance Winston Jordan dubbed as “neglected”, a loan-grant agreement was signed yesterday between the Ministry of Finance and the Caribbean Development Fund (CDF) for US$10.4 million.
Four villages – Ithaca, West Coast Berbice; Triumph and Buxton, East Coast Demerara and Mocha, East Bank Demerara – have been identified as the target communities and while the CDF loan-grant agreement provides US$10.4 million, Jordan indicated that the government will contribute a further US$2 million to ensure the project is implemented fully.
“Those who live in Buxton… Mocha and Ithaca will tell you how neglected they were over the last two decades,” Jordan said. He added that he was extremely pleased at the agreement, which will ensure significant improvement in the infrastructure of those villages to benefit small-scale farmers.
