Consumers Concerns ( Elieen Cox)
Consumers living in the city of Georgetown and the towns of Guyana do not appreciate how fortunate they are to have backyards in which they can plant some vegetables and fruits. Even if there are concrete old pots, basins and other utensils, these can be brought into use for small plants and save you the expense of purchasing greens and spices in the market place.
Gardening is a habit that is born in childhood when schools include gardening in their curricula. Without that basic training we tend not only to waste land, but also we waste what forms good manure. All those vegetable and fruit skins in the kitchen, the rotting bananas, can be accumulated in a compost heap to provide ideal manure for your plants.
What happens to the heap of grass that the grass-cutter lodges at the side of your parapet once a month? Do you leave it for the garbage truck to collect and take away to be burnt? Or are you wise enough to collect the light grass in a garbage bag and store it with other material for excellent manure?
Mr Forbes McGarrell grew up in Vergenoegen, on the East Bank, Essequibo River. This was an agro-based area at the time. Children at an early age developed a love for the soil, for growing plants, and for Mother Nature. Each school had a kitchen garden.
He attended the Philadelphia Scots School, and there his love for agriculture took root. In 1995 he launched Mr McGarrell Farm and Plant Nursery. It was his desire to assist consumers and farmers by providing seedlings that were strong enough to be cultivated without much trouble. Daily he provides fruit and vegetable seedlings. Consumers can purchase cabbage, cauliflower, celery, parsley and other seedlings from his location at the western end of Merriman Mall, near Alexander Street.
The seedlings are sold in plastic bags and consumers have little to do except to prepare their plant beds. There was a time when I thought that we could dig a hole bury the seed and it would develop into a bearing plant or vine. The farmers on the Railway Embankment taught me that there was far more to it for the growth of healthy plants. Beds have to be built up and properly drained. A daily supply of water flowing through the bed ensures that there is no accumulation of water that would destroy the roots of the plants.
Mr McGarrell mentioned the Grow More Food Campaign. There is now a glut on the market of some vegetables such as tomatoes, bora, boulanger and karila. Arrangements are not in place for all that is produced to be sold, so that there is no loss of food and the drains around the Bourda Market are not packed with decaying vegetables.
Asked about export, Mr McGarrell said that he exports to Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados. He cannot compete with Trinidad & Tobago in the export trade to North America because of the higher cost for his produce. The cost from Guyana to North America for one kilo is 98 US cents whereas from Trinidad to North America the cost is 50 US cents.
With reference to the garbage that can be seen in the drains around the Bourda Market he pointed out that it could be collected and used as compost. Some enterprising person will some day undertake that task.
