Following an outreach last month to the villages of Orealla and Siparuta, located on the Corentyne, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha disclosed that an extension officer has been identified and will commence working soon.
“After we met with residents and they indicated that there was need for a resident extension officer, we were able to identify a qualified person. Her name is Reyanna DeGrella. We’ve commenced the process for her to start work in the two villages but due to the recent travel restrictions to and from the villages due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, she is unable to travel to Georgetown to complete the official procedure. We are working with village officials to have arrangements in place for this process to be completed as soon as possible,” Mustapha said, according to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture.
During the outreach, farmers from Orealla appealed to Mustapha for Government to assist them with becoming self-sufficient in poultry. As a follow up to those requests, Mustapha said that both Orealla and Siparuta will benefit from the Ministry’s 2021 Black Giant programme.
“We have an ongoing Black Giant poultry initiative targeting Hinterland communities and other vulnerable areas. The aim of the initiative is for these communities to become self-sufficient in poultry production. We’ve had successes with this initiative so far and we will be extending it to Orealla and Siparuta come 2021. I’ve already instructed the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) to include these villages in their upcoming programme. We will also be including a number of other hinterland communities that have been overlooked in the past. As it relates to materials to improve their pastures, I’ve engaged the head of GLDA and the materials will be handed over to the village before the end of the year,” Mustapha added.
