Govt to establish model farm for persons living with disabilities

The Government through the Agriculture Ministry is set to establish a state-of-the-art model farm at Mon Repos, East Coast of Demerara, which will be uniquely managed by persons living with disabilities.

The model farm will feature essential components including a storage room, shade house, cattle pen, composting house, feed formulation, other pens for small ruminants and black giant chickens, and electrical and water supply networks. The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is playing a key role in the implementation of the model farm.
This information was announced by Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, during his outreach in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) last week.
According to Mustapha this initiative forms part of the government’s strategy to implement plans that benefit all sections of society. Furthermore, he stated that it will provide individuals who are differently abled with an opportunity to earn an income and gain access to sustainable and integrated farming practices.
“We have already cleared the lands, they will now build out that farm there for differently abled persons in our country, they will have a profit coming out of that farm and would be able to earn to enhance their livelihoods. That is the kind of advancement that we are making in this sector,” Minister Mustapha asserted.
High-tech model farms will also be constructed in other regions nationwide, as part of the government’s commitment to modernising the agriculture sector, fostering sustainability, and ensuring food security.
This project is already bearing fruit through a collaboration with the agriculture ministry’s agency the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities.
It was initially launched in March, to aid in the exchange of knowledge and a detail way to develop a comprehensive strategy for managing farmlands, crops, livestock, and forests that counteracts the negative impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity, among person with various disabilities
As a result, beneficiaries have attained knowledge on how to utilise farming methods such as shade houses and vertical gardening to garner economic opportunities through sustainable food production.
Training Manager at NAREI, Warren Barlow explained that the goal is to ensure persons living with disabilities gain financial independence, and contribute effectively in decision-making to truly benefit from economic, social, political and cultural life.
He made this comment during a recent broadcast off the Disability and You programme.
“The spin-off of this is that those persons with disabilities, now they can work in their comfortable confines in that particular facility. Because it is shaded you can set your beds in such a way… that those persons can easily move throughout the shade house and can be able to their cultivation practices in a very suitable and simple manner,” Barlow said. (G2)