Farmers of Hague Backdam, on the West Coast of Demerara, an agriculture-based community, are being urged to venture into crop diversification, particularly to focus on the cultivation of produce with higher market
NAREI Chairman, Major General (Rtd) Joseph Singh; NAREI CEO, Dr Oudho Homenauth; Region Three REO Dennis Jaikarran and Managing Director of the Guyana Foundation Anthony Autar interact with Hague Backdam farmers
values, like red beans.
The National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) recently reached out to farmers there, in an effort to build a stronger relationship with the community.
NAREI Chairman, Major General (Rtd) Joseph Singh; its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Oudho Homenauth; Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) Regional Executive Officer Dennis Jaikarran; and the Managing Director of the Guyana Foundation Anthony Autar were a part of the interaction.
The meeting was facilitated by the Guyana Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that is working to enhance the lives of residents of Hague Backdam. The NGO, headed by Supriya Singh-Bodden, is currently executing the ‘Hague Back Village Renewal Project’ and critical to this initiative, is a vibrant agricultural sector.
The objectives of the meeting were to strengthen the relationship between NAREI and farmers; establish a link between NAREI, the NGO and farmers; and ascertain areas in which the institute could assist farmers.
During the meeting, NAREI CEO, Dr Homenauth urged the farmers to diversify their crops, explaining that the smallness of the local market limits the consumption of a particular produce, resulting in a large quantity of produce being spoilt daily.
While acknowledging that farmers face the challenge of low prices for some produces such as pepper, Dr Homenauth posited that farmers should enter into contractual agreements with exporters and processors as a safeguard.
He assured farmers that NAREI wants to help them; however, they need to start approaching their farming activities as a business. He explained that for instance, they could invest in shaded cultivation which allows farming all year round or utilise the services offered by NAREI such as on the spot soil testing.
According to Dr Homenauth, information regarding the services offered by NAREI could be accessed online, via telephone, and through Extension Staff who are present in each administrative region.
In addition to providing technical support, quarantining imports and exports and offering free soil testing, NAREI tries to link farmers to exporters and processors.
NAREI Chairman, Major General (Rtd) Joseph Singh, underscored the power of working as a collective enterprise, and encouraged the farmers to form a farmers’ association, explaining that such an organisation could advocate for developmental projects, enter into economic ventures and even negotiate for better prices for produces.
Singh also advised the farmers to have a planned approach to farming. “Do not plant because you were planting a particular crop all the time… there are new crops on the market such as sijan, which has high nutritional value,” he said.
Moreover, farmers were urged to add value to their products. Owing to Guyana’s population, it is important that produces or processed products are exported to other Caribbean countries.
“As such, farmers need to start adding value to their produces. For instance, solar drying is an inexpensive method that could help preserve some produces, such as peppers and carambola [Five finger],” he stated.
Some crops grown for commercial purposes are sweet potato, cassava, plantain, pepper, cabbage, spinach, tomato, coconut, ochro, bora among other cash crops.
