President Bharrat Jagdeo and Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), Dr. Arlington Chesney, yesterday discussed a project on urea fertilizer that could save Guyana US$2-3M annually.
It was also proposed that a Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) be signed between CARDI and Guyana’s National Agricul-tural Research Institute (NARI), the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
The Executive Director of CARDI paid a courtesy call on Guyana’s Head of State yesterday at the Office of the President where he briefed him on a fertilizer project being conducted by his organization that could save Guyana a substantial amount of money annually while also increasing crop yields.
And speaking with GINA after the meeting, Dr Chesney said, “We’ve been doing some trials on different types of urea (a nitrogenous fertilizer) that could reduce the amount of urea used and give higher yields for rice.
The results are not final as yet. We have to do another season but they look good, and they could save the country overall about US$2-3M in fertilizer prices a year.”
He explained, GINA said, that the use of the fertilizer could be reduced by as much as 20% while increasing yields by 40% by altering the structure of the urea and depositing it about 2.5 centimetres below the surface of the soil rather than on top of it.
Dr. Chesney also indicated that he had discussed with President Jagdeo a joint programme between Guyana and CARDI and he advised that a MoU should be inked between the regional research body and the local equivalent – NARI.
He also outlined what the work programme of the collaboration between the two research institutions would include.
“The work programme includes biotechnology, which is tissue culture, introduction of new varieties of commodities that are of interest to Guyana so we could bring the yields up with time, and post-harvest technology among others,” CARDI’s Executive Director said.
Meanwhile, Guyana’s reactivation of its membership with CARDI was also discussed at the meeting. Dr. Chesney was able to secure the President’s support for his organization’s application to the Petroleum Fund of Trinidad and Tobago to secure money for its continuing research activities, GINA added.