-following complaints
Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud has promised that extension officers will visit the 58 Miles community, after residents lamented the lack of access to agricultural extension services in the hinterland area at a meeting on Monday.
Persaud is currently on visits to several interior villages and held meetings at 58 Miles and Fairview on Monday. Several concerns were raised including the need for more information on Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), the need for agricultural extension officers in the communities, land issues and soil testing to determine crop suitability, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
“We want to support your activity. We want to support your agriculture. We want to support your development, and we want to do this in partnership with you”, Persaud told 58 Miles villagers. Several residents and others from the nearby villages of 47 Miles and Great Falls lamented the lack of access to agricultural extension services through the Ministry. Persaud, while acknowledging that extension services away from the coast are weaker, noted that his ministry is working to remedy this, conducting a restructuring exercise to overhaul the delivery of services, GINA said.
The minister also arranged for an extension team to visit the village on December 19 and for them to take several soil samples for testing to determine crops for the soil type. He further encouraged the residents to nominate two individuals from the community to be trained- one as an agricultural extension officer and the other, once eligible, would receive a scholarship to attend the Guyana School of Agriculture to study forestry and agriculture, GINA reported.
GINA said that several residents also raised questions on the LCDS stating that they would like more information on the strategy to which Minister Persaud responded, “I want to assure you that consultations on the LCDS will increase.”
Accompanying Persaud was head of the Guyana Forestry Commission, James Singh and he had earlier noted that US$65,000 out of a US$200,000 grant from the World Bank would be allocated to the National Toshaos Council to conduct more consultations across the country, GINA said.
First class highway
Meantime, Persaud explained that Guyana is going through a period of transformation; improving and modernizing the traditional industries and developing new sectors and seeking innovative ideas so that children, like those of 58 Miles village, can have a decent life. He highlighted the plans to develop the Linden-Lethem trail into a first class highway. “Your community is well positioned to benefit from the new opportunities Government is pursuing”, GINA quoted him as stating.
According to the statement, Persaud noted that the project- at an estimated cost of US$150M to US$300M, will see the resolution of land issues for individuals who reside along the corridor, delayed. He stressed that there is no plan of taking away any land from Amerindian communities.
At Fairview, the Agriculture Minister was concerned when several residents stated that travelers were spreading incorrect information about the LCDS, causing serious concerns among the residents that they may lose their lands. “I want to assure you that this Government will not, in any way, compromise the rights of the Amerindian people, the culture of the Amerindian people and the development of Guyana,” GINA quoted him as telling the residents.
Villagers stressed the need for equipment and supplies including scales, a radio and vaccines for the health centre, a sewing machine for the women’s group, planting materials, breeding animals and pesticides. Also raised was the need for a tractor and plough to prepare land for cultivation, GINA reported.
In response to these requests, Persaud stated that his office would donate a sewing machine to the community, and he would convey to the Health Minister the request for the items for the Health Centre. He further noted that his Ministry had secured 18 tractors and complementary equipment (back hoes, trimmers, ploughs) for distribution to Amerindian villages across the country, and while Fairview was not one of the beneficiaries, there should be more available in the future. He also suggested that the village consider using their presidential grant to procure these items, GINA said.
It stated that at both communities, eight varieties of seeds, as well as acoushi ants’ pesticide, were distributed and Persaud also noted that the National Agricultural Research Institute has breeding animals for distribution and encouraged the community to obtain some of them. “We are fully committed to whatever undertaking we have given,” he said.
