Guyana’s renowned soil scientist, Dr Oudho Homenauth, who served as Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), has died. He held this position for over two decades.
Dr Oudho Homenauth
Dr Homenauth died on Tuesday, collapsing as he was about to take an afternoon walk.
He grew up in the Number 67 Village, but subsequently moved to Georgetown after he was placed at Queen’s College. He taught at the Manchester Secondary School in Corentyne for one year after leaving school, and went on to university from 1975- 1978, after which he joined the National Service in his early days.
During his teaching career, he received a scholarship to study medicine but rather pursued a degree in chemistry.
While on the sidelines of the launch of the population census on Tuesday, President Dr Irfaan Ali paid a tribute to Dr Homenauth, reflecting on the numerous contributions he made in the agricultural sector.
“He served exceedingly well, he made tremendous contributions to the agricultural sector; his death is a tremendous loss to the country, I had the honor to work with him at the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Housing and as President. His contributions can never be understated. Much of what we have accomplished in the rice industry is his hard work,” the Head of State said.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, along with the management and staff of the Agriculture Ministry, also paid tribute to Dr Homenauth, extending their condolences to his relatives and friends and stating that his contributions to NAREI remained invaluable.
Also reflecting on the life of Dr Homenauth, former Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy said that he was a respected colleague.
“As one of my senior directors at the Ministry of Agriculture, he provided me with unstinting support. Lest anyone forget, the initial large-scale pilots for soya and corn production started when I was Minister of Agriculture,” Dr Ramsammy said.
He noted that by 2015, Dr Homenauth led the potato project.
“The reproducible production of garlic and onion was still being worked with by 2015. But we had reached self-sufficiency in carrot and broccoli production. We had also now started developing growing conditions for quinoa. The stem cell lab and germplasm lab had started.”
