…after years of inactivity
After years of being defunct, the Guyana Agricultural Producers Association (GAPA) was yesterday officially relaunched and was hailed as an integral step towards the diversifying of the country’s agriculture sector.
Speaking at the ceremony held at the International Convention Centre, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud welcomed the relaunching of the organization and said it was necessary to bridge the gap between the Agriculture Ministry and farmers. He suggested that an umbrella body such as GAPA would be more effective as opposed to individual farmers, lobbying the concerns of the farming community.
The Minister, meanwhile, emphasised the importance of diversifying the country’s agriculture sector which he said was too dependant on rice and sugar. He said that this diversification was necessary and that if this were to happen it had to start at the level of the farmers. He said that this is an initiative that the government will place greater emphasis on. He added that projects such as the Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Development (READ) project and the Agriculture Diversification Programme will aid in achieving this objective.
Persaud also highlighted some of the problems that farmers faced especially as it related to food prices and how their livelihoods were being affected by the unfairness of certain aspects of the global trade agreements. He said this negatively affected farmers in the less developed countries in particular. Nevertheless, the Minister said he was convinced that the future for agriculture was bright. He pointed out that the agricultural sector, when compared to other sectors locally has not been as significantly affected by the global economic slowdown.
GAPA, a non-governmental and non-profit organization, was started in 1974 with the aim of serving the farming community. However, over time the body became defunct. Last year, steps were taken to re-establish the organization last year. The re-establishment of the body is seen as a move to advance the non-traditional agricultural farming sector including small scale producers since this sector remains one of the pillars to ensure food security in the Caribbean. The organization will particularly emphasize productivity, management, research, training and marketing information.
National Coordinator of GAPA, Nandlall Mangal said that the body plans to hold regional conferences in all 10 administrative regions of Guyana to interact with farmers.
He also said that the body plans to render help in practical ways such as assisting small-scale farmers by helping them develop business proposals so that they can apply for financial aid. He also said that GAPA will be seeking to help locate new markets for the farmers to sell their products.
