Guyana to launch 1st disability-friendly farm

A state-of-the-art farming facility for persons living with disabilities (PWDs) will be established as part of the national drive to make the agriculture sector more accessible and inclusive. Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha announced the plan during his visit to Karaudarnau in the Deep South Rupununi on Wednesday, according to a Department of Public Information (DPI) report.

The Minister said the new facility, currently under development through the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), is unlike anything Guyana has ever had before.
It will be a modern, fully outfitted farm dedicated to providing persons with disabilities the opportunity to earn a livelihood in agriculture. He emphasised that the facility is not a welfare initiative, but a long-term empowerment strategy, noting that too many persons living with disabilities are skilled but unable to find meaningful work. This project will ensure PWDs are not left behind as the agriculture sector modernises. The farm will operate entirely with disability-friendly infrastructure and tools, creating a safe and empowering environment where individuals living with disabilities can produce crops, acquire skills and build independent income streams. “This will be a modern farm for people with disabilities so they can earn for themselves,” the Minister is quoted by DPI as saying.
The Minister noted that, “It will be operated only by persons with disabilities, giving them meaningful economic participation and dignity.” The Ministry is collaborating with international partners to turn GSA into a Centre of Excellence, featuring a modern situation room for climate and weather forecasting, advanced technology labs and training spaces for new and emerging farmers. Samples of new plantlets in a Tissue Culture Laboratory. These initiatives align with President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s national mandate that every agriculture project must include at least 35 per cent women and youth and must create pathways for vulnerable groups to participate in Guyana’s growing food production sector. “We want everyone to have the chance to participate,” Minister Mustapha told attendees at the South Rupununi District Council meeting, stating that, “This farm will give persons living with disabilities the opportunity to learn, to work and to earn…just like anyone else.”