Govt testing new technology to build farm-to-market roads – Pres Ali

…talks ongoing to ferry agri-produce to Aruba

The Guyana Government is currently exploring a new technology that they are hoping to use to build-out mud dams across the country into durable farm-to-market access roads.

This was announced by President Dr Irfaan Ali on Friday afternoon during a visit to Cherry Tree Farm in Coverden, East Bank Demerara, where he engaged farmers and residents from surrounding communities.
During the meeting, one farmer requested support from Government to build out a dam in Sarah Johanna, EBD. In fact, there are three dams in that area that are in need of work to allow farmers to have easy access to their farmlands.
President Ali informed that the technology is currently undergoing testing at Laluni on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
“We are now testing a technology that is used around the world… And this is a technology that stabilises the clay and make it into a hard surface like concrete. So, once the technology proves well, we can look at these dams there.”
The Head of State told the gathering of mainly farmers that the purpose of his visit to Cherry Tree Farm was to talk about the community’s agriculture agenda and strengthen what is already being done there.
In fact, he touted the idea of introducing “integrated farming” at the EBD area where there are approximately 200 acres of farmlands owned by some 54 farmers. According to the President, sometimes when persons farm their lands individually, it does not result in the best yields hence they are looking at a collective approach in enhancing the productivity of farmers.
“What I have asked Minister [of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha] and the guys over at Agriculture to do, is to look at how best we can deploy these 200 acres of land. Whether we can go into an integrated farm with large-scale pig production and make this the model farm and model area for that… But you guys have to come together for that… We have to put in the same infrastructure that makes it competitive for everybody, you have shared management responsibility…”
“So, we have to think a bit different too whilst we thinking about agriculture. We have to think how we make it more competitive, how we make it more attractive, how we make it in such a way that we have more revenue.”

Ferrying local produce to the Caribbean
President Ali reminded of the Guyana Government’s intention to push agriculture production not only for local use but to meet the needs of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries as well. He noted that efforts have already been undertaken to ensure that local produce get into the Caricom market “in a strong way.”
This, he noted, will be further bolstered with the introduction of the new regional ferry service between Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados. The Head of State announced last week that the three countries have agreed to establish a company to operate this ferry service that will cater to both passenger and cargo movement in the Region.
It has since been reported that the Trinidad Government has approved the use of one of the nation’s ferry vessels to travel to Guyana.
In addition to this, the Guyanese leader on Friday disclosed similar plans to ship local produce from Guyana to Aruba – an island located south of the Caribbean Sea.
“We have started discussions also with Aruba on having a ferry service to Aruba that looks specifically at production – taking agriculture produce there… So food production is going to be a main part of our development… So, if we have greater production in this area then we can have the production coming out of here [EBD corridor] to supply the Region,” the Head of State told the farmers as he urged them to think about the opportunities that these initiatives will bring.

Massive investments
Moreover, the President noted that the massive investments that Government is making in expanding the road network and building out new highways along the East Bank corridor will further add to the competitiveness of the production process of the communities there.
“You now have the land available, let’s see how we can work together and come up with an integrated plan, where we support each other and the competitiveness of the whole agriculture production system in this area will also go up. And we want to support that plan,” he posited.

Meanwhile, Mustapha, in brief remarks, outlined the work Government has done to support agricultural development in the EBD communities. This includes delivering inputs such as tillers, weeding machines, wheelbarrows and fertilisers to farmers there as well as extensive drainage works.
“To date, we have expended over $70 million and we have cleared six canals and the work is still going on to do the large drainage canals. Very shortly, we will start the internal drainage which we have had discussions about with the farmers,” the Minister noted.
According to Mustapha, there are other opportunities available which the EBD farmers can take advantage of such as in the livestock sector, which is a major farming activity in those communities. He pointed to a programme at the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), where a large-scale duck operation was launched involving over one thousand ducks and this number is growing. To date, over 50 farmers have benefited from this initiative.
In addition, there is also training in beekeeping, with two apiaries already established with 40 and 60 beehives each. This will be extensively rolled out across the country and is something the EBD farmers can look into.
“Very shortly, we will have some foreign experts coming in to help us to build this apiculture industry,” he told the farmers.
Several other Ministers and senior Government officials also participated in the community outreach on Friday.