25 acres of land for cash crop farming in Region 2

Given the importance of agriculture and food production in his Government’s development agenda, President Dr Irfaan Ali on Friday announced that over 20 acres of land will become available to expand cash crop farming in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).

He made this disclosure during a meeting with Essequibo farmers at the Guyana Rice Producers Association (GRPA) bond in Anna Regina. The President along with his team of Cabinet Ministers, several Members of Parliament and a large technical team from various Ministries are in the Pomeroon-Supenaam region for a two-day outreach, which will wrap up today.
According to the Head of State, his Government is moving to develop 25 acres of land to be utilised exclusively for cash crop production in Region Two.
He further told farmers in Essequibo that expanding the scale of cash crop production is a priority of his Government.

During the lengthy discussions, the President also declared that a strategic plan will be devised to support and resolve the issues plaguing Region Two farmers. This will be in the form of an “agenda of action” that will be implemented in the near future.
Additionally, President Ali explained that Friday’s meeting was geared at identifying key priority areas that require further investments to stimulate the agriculture sector, mainly in the production of rice.
“The next two days, we will be exclusively at your service in Region Two. We are your servants. We are here to listen to you and to communicate to you some of the things we’ve done and about the plans we have,” he noted.
To this end, the Head of State had open discussions with scores of farmers, where issues relating to drainage and irrigation, improvement to agriculture production, land taxes, road works, flood relief, as well as easier access to Government services were discussed.
He highlighted that some $46 million was allocated to conduct drainage and irrigation works in over 200 acres of farmland in the Manakuru area. He promised the residents that the work will be expedited.
Concerns were raised about the poor condition of farm-to-market roads. At their request, the Head of State told the farmers that he would discuss with the relevant authorities in his Government about the possible acquisition of a new grader and bulldozer next year.

Boom sprayers
However, President Ali also presented five boom sprayers to the Region Two Regional Democratic Council (RDC), which will be used to control the paddy bug infestations in hotspot areas in order to boost production output in Essequibo.
The handing over, which was held at the RPA Bond in Anna Regina, was a fulfilment of a promise made by the President to farmers.
During a visit to the region back in June to assess flood-affected areas, President Ali had committed to assisting farmers with resuscitating agriculture in the villages along the Essequibo Coast. At the time, farmers had sought his assistance to address the high percentage of bug infestation on their crops.
On Friday, President Ali made good on that promise when he returned to the region on a two-day outreach to hand over the equipment. He told rice farmers that he has been working to fulfil all of the requests made by farmers.
“When farmers make requests for works to be done, whether it be the clearing of drains and canals, the rehabilitation of critical structures, or whatever the issue may be, I try my best to have those requests satisfied. After becoming President, I visited the regions in Guyana and farmers made several requests. Today, I want to tell you that we’ve been working with the farmers, and those requests have been met and satisfied,” he stated.
The Head of State further indicated to the farmers that the offices of the National Agricultural Research & Extension Institute (NAREI), Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and the Region Two RDC will be working closely with them to ensure that they are productive.
Meanwhile, the Regional Vice-Chairman, Humace Oodit, expressed gratitude to the President and his Cabinet for such a timely intervention that will benefit farmers in the future. He noted with the boom sprayers, rice farmers will now be able to manage bug infestation in their fields.
Following the handing over of the boom sprayers, a rice farmer told <<<Guyana Times>>> that he has over 200 acres of rice lands, and with this support from Government he will no longer have to stress on how to get rid of bugs on one day.
“This will help me out a lot, with so many rice fields I will no longer have to take dozens of men to spray my crop… With the use of a tractor and the boom sprayer will ease the weight off my shoulders in searching and paying workmen to spray,” the rice farmer said.
Other rice farmers also expressed gratitude towards President Ali and his Cabinet for their efforts and timely intervention to address one of their issues.
The two-day outreach is aimed at engaging farmers and other residents in Region Two to hear about the issues that are affecting them and have them dealt with.
Accompanying President Ali at Friday’s meeting with the farmers were Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips; Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh; Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn; Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd; Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall; Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud; Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Godfrey Bess; Acting Commissioner of Police, Nigel Hoppie; National Security Advisor, Captain Gerry Gouveia; Member of Parliament and General Secretary of the GRPA, Dharamkumar Seeraj and Member of Parliament, Attorney Sanjeev Datadin.
The other Cabinet Ministers were fanned out across the region meeting with various stakeholders. (G8)