Riverine farmers to get transport help as Guyana pushes to be food capital of region

…as Pres Ali pledges boats, storage & more support for agri sector

President Dr Irfaan Ali has said that it is his goal to position Guyana as the food capital of the Region, adding that his administration will always give support to those in the agriculture sector.
“We will always support farmers. We will support them in Parliament with financial allocations and we will support them by our actions on the ground,” he declared.
The President was at the time meeting with rice and cash crop farmers, along with fisherfolk and sugar workers at the Albion Sports Complex, Corentyne on Thursday.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who was also present at the meeting, noted that President Ali intends to make more investments in the sector during the next five years.

“If you believe that you have seen investment in the agriculture sector over the past five years, you haven’t seen anything yet, because President Ali has a remarkable vision for the next five years,” the Minister told the gathering.
President Ali also announced plans by his Government to provide transportation to riverine communities, to assist farmers to get their produce to markets.
“… We have to help you to reduce your transport costs, the building of farm-to-market access roads, but more importantly, how again do we help you with transport facility in groups?
“Like in the Berbice River and the Demerara River, we are now going to buy boats and give it to the farmers so they can use those boats to bring their produce down to the market. These are the things that we are planning ahead. We want our small farmers to be able to plant smarter,” he added.
The President made the announcements as he outlined plans for Guyana’s agriculture sector over the next five years.
Speaking of some of the plans to assist both rice and cash crop farmers, President Ali said the objective is to reduce production costs, add value to their produce, and reduce spoilage.
“To do that, we need modern drying and storage facilities. Facilities that would allow the farmers to store their paddy without infestation for a longer period of time. So if the market collapses in a particular period, we have long-term storage of international standard. That is the first thing: drying and storage facility,” he told the gathering, while noting that it will be one of the commitments of the next government.
Additionally, he advised farmers that they need to increase yield and productivity, along with having more varieties available.
Rice farmers, he said, must look at a system of integrated farms, whereby about 10 per cent of the farm is utilised in cultivating a high-value, high-yielding commodity.
“So 1) we have to co-invest on the storage and drying facility. Modern storage and drying facility. 2) We have to continue to work with you on increasing yield and productivity. 3) We will be working with you on how to create these integrated farms and identify crops with a technology and the support for you to start up these integrated farms.”
The President said farmers must expand their income portfolio and make agriculture more versatile.
According to the Head of State, he will be putting special mechanisms in place to address the needs of cash crop and rice farmers.
“We are committing to you that we are going to look at the sustainability of industry. In ensuring, as we move forward, in a new term, that we create a mechanism through which farmers have less delay in receiving their payment. Because sometimes farmers are halfway into the second crop and not receiving the payment for the first crop.
“We have approximately 3000 cash crop farmers in this region, and we have about 1370 farmers who farm between one to 30 acres of rice. Because the cash crop farmers farm smaller acreage, it might be more efficient for us to buy the fertiliser and transport it and distribute it for you. If you have 10 acres and you want the cash value of that, that is $80,000. And you have 10 acres, then you tell the Minister of Agriculture, we want the cash value of it.”
Government has been assisting farmers to cut the high cost of production by supplying a bag of fertiliser for ever acre of land they have under cultivation.
“We want to invest, especially with women and young people, in hydroponic houses, shade houses, so that we can have resilient agriculture, sustainable agriculture. We have to go into value-added creation, creating our own brand,” the president declared.