$5.3M project to assist cherry, turmeric farmers in Guyana

Farmers in Guyana will soon benefit from a whopping $5.3 million collaboration between Caribbean Agricultural Productivity Improvement Activity (CAPA), the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and the Economic Development Fund following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding today.
Signing the MOU on Thursday was CEO of NAREI, Jagnarine Singh and project director of CAPA.
This agreement which marks a pivotal step specifically for cherry and turmeric farmers will aid them to be properly trained in their respective capacities and will also provide them with adequate resources to carry out their cultivation.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who was present at the event, highlighted the benefits of this agreements, including its ability to help farmers access regional markets.

“This 5.3-million-dollar activity will help farmers and stakeholders in the fruit and vegetable industry by promoting the use of market driven agricultural practices and technologies enabling them to easier access and regional markets.”
He added that the Agriculture Ministry has recognised various commodities which they are set to reduce.
He firmly believes that through this project, farmers will experience significantly lowered import bills.
“We have targeted almost 10 high import commodities to reduce those imports into the Caribbean and I think that this project captures most of those commodities that we could produce large scale where we could build capacity in which we could have our farmers equipped so they could produce those commodities so that we could take in the slacks that would create by reducing those imports into the Caribbean.”
He also noted that CARICOM Heads of Government have pledged to cut the Region’s food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025, emphasising that Guyanese farmers must be equipped with the necessary tools to achieve this goal. He expressed his expectation that the project will significantly contribute to reducing the food import bill.
“I think we will be successful in being able to reduce the food import bill by 25 per cent but that means that we will have to build our farmers capacity that they will take in the slacks that will be created when we reduce that food import bill and this ceremony this morning marks a significant milestone in our ongoing effort to enhance food security and boost agriculture productivity and strengthen the livelihood of our farmers and communities.”
CAPA, a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC), is dedicated to improving agricultural productivity and market efficiencies across the Caribbean including Guyana.
The CAPA project aligns with the 25 by 2025 agenda, focusing on reducing food imports and fostering sustainable agricultural practices.
Two separate MOUs were signed – CAPA and NAREI and CAPA and the Economic Development in Guyana.
Specifically, the MOU agreement that CAPA holds with NAREI is to mainly provide technical assistance to Cherry farmers, Laluni and to Region One farmers that cultivate turmeric.
NAREI has the expertise in terms of extension services which means that they are going to assist farmers with training in pest management, in good agricultural practices and production.
And from CAPA’s side is to provide the resources to enable that to get done.
Already, CAPA has procured Turmeric plants and materials, products to help the farmers and they have supplied tools and equipment so that they can achieve good production.
On the other hand, the Agreement that CAPA signed with the Economic Development Fund, allows CAPA to provide the resources to bring in the B-STARCH product, working together with the GMC so that the broad-based trials on cassava can be done. So the Economic Development Accelerator will provide the technical expertise, the supervision, the training, the capacity building and CAPA will provide the funding to get it done.
Heads of Government of Caricom have committed to reducing the Region’s large food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025. The implementation of the CARICOM Agri-Food Systems Strategy in the Member States, is expected to help achieve this target, by giving special attention to priority crops and products such as poultry, corn, soya, meat (Goat, Sheep, Beef), rice and niche vegetables. (G2)