Pomeroon can supply Caribbean’s food needs - Minister Persaud

Georgetown, GINA, January 22, 2008.

Farmers of the Pomeroon in Region Two are being encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities available and advance agricultural production to meet the Caribbean’s increasing demand for food.
            The productive capacity of the Pomeroon was highlighted today during farmers’ meetings with Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud and a team of technical and regional personnel in upper and lower communities of the river.
            Farmers were informed of the increasing interest being showed by several Regional States such as Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados to source food from Guyana. At present, teams from these countries are assessing the opportunities available in the country to meet their food demand.
Minister Persaud also highlighted the importance of clusters to help farmers increase competitiveness by enabling them to utilise the opportunities that exist for increased food production. This is also important in light of global price increases for food and increasing demand for agricultural produce. Farmers were urged to pursue initiatives such as the revitalization of the Guyana Agricultural Producers Associations (GAPA).

Minister Persaud addresses a farmers' meeting in the Lower Pomeroon

Reference was made to the interest by some States to source agricultural produce directly from the Pomeroon through which there are ongoing arrangements while others have been expressed.
Velma Da Silva, a farmer of the Lower Pomeroon told the Minister’s team that there is a Barbadian investor recently indicated an interest to source organic produce from the Pomeroon. He is also willing to help farmers with cultivation. She urged other farmers to look towards such opportunities and urged that they form themselves into groups to take advantage of the potential that exist.
            The need for a financial facility that will provide loans for agricultural activities at low interest rates was highlighted as a means to help small farmers increase production and productivity. Minister Persaud pointed out that financial institutions have been constantly encouraged to place special emphasis on agriculture especially with regard to helping small farmers.
            The granting of land titles to farmers to enable them to access loans from the Banks and need to address the non-occupancy of some lands that have been abandoned for years by their owners were highlighted as other constraints to agricultural development in the Pomeroon. Farmers were told that the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission will be asked to intervene while they were urged to up production with focus on more non-traditional crops which are increasingly being demanded.
            Ongoing interventions to boost agricultural production in the Pomeroon and surrounding areas include construction of a sluice at Charity and ongoing development of the Cozier scheme. Additionally, establishment of a mini packaging and storage facility to cater for processed fruits and vegetables from the Pomeroon is being pursued.

 

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