100 single-parent homes to be transformed into farmsteads at St Cuthbert’s Mission

President Irfaan Ali has underscored a series of developmental projects for St Cuthbert’s Mission, also known as Pakuri, including a programme to assist 100 single-parent-led households to convert their homes into farmsteads – an initiative aimed at boosting the livelihoods of residents.
The Head of State made these remarks during a community outreach with residents on Thursday.
According to President Ali, several measures are being introduced to provide direct economic benefits to families.

“What we want to do is to identify 100 single-parent-led households here. And we want to work with you to convert your homes into farmsteads. And we will put shade houses behind your homes so that you can cultivate high-value crops, like sweet pepper, and crops that carry high prices on the market,” he said.
In explaining how the programme would operate, President Ali noted that logistical barriers would be removed for farmers.
“We will have a co-ordinated buying mechanism where the Guyana Marketing Corporation will come here when you’re harvesting and buy your product right in the village, so you don’t have that transportation cost to take your product to the market,” he said, emphasising that this approach would increase profits for the families involved.
The President also stressed the importance of not only cultivating crops but also accessing viable markets.
“But that is not all. Cultivating is one thing. It’s the market,” he added, highlighting the holistic approach of the initiative.
Meanwhile, President Ali lent his perspective on supporting small businesses within the community, particularly youth-led ventures.
“The Small Business Development Grant is aimed at helping you to get small loans, interest-free, so we can help you to develop small businesses. Whether you want to do honey production, you want to do agri-processing, or you want to do a small tourism project,” he said, pointing out the flexibility of the programme.
He encouraged young people to come together for larger tourism projects, providing an example of how the initiative could be applied.
“If the young people in this village decide that they want to come together – I’m giving you an idea here – and they want to buy eight or nine ATVs, and they want to do an off-road tourism business with those ATVs, because people want to do ATV riding in the sandpit, up on the trail, and into the forested areas and have an experience, an ATV experience, an off-road experience. Bring that plan. We will work with you. You will get it duty-free. We will co-invest with you, help you to find the capital and invest, but we want you to do it as a group so that you can have a whole tourism experience here,” he said, encouraging teamwork and collaboration.
The President also highlighted other tourism opportunities the community could explore, including eco-friendly experiences along the river.
“You can have night fishing. You can have the young people in this village come and say they want to do an evening sail down the river, coming into the village and spending the night in a camping facility. So you can have a sail down the river, dinner on the river, and a moonlight night; you come into the community, you have a camping facility, and then early in the morning you sail back and go back down the river and go back down to Georgetown or wherever you’re from. That is the product we want to develop,” he explained, detailing the potential for tourism-based revenue and community development.