-dedicated to memory of Desrey Fox
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud launched the US$643,000 Hinterland Rice and Beans Project on Tuesday at a simple ceremony held in the St Ignatius Benab, in Region Nine.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, Persaud dedicated the project to the memory of Minister within the Ministry of Education, Dr Desrey Fox, who succumbed to the injuries she sustained in an automobile accident on December 11. “In tribute to her commitment to Guyana’s development, to our Amerindian people’s development and to the role of food and agriculture (plays in that development), I want to dedicate this project to her. Whilst today is a day for us to celebrate and which I consider a milestone in the modernisation of agriculture in Region Nine, it is also a day in which all Guyana mourn the loss of an outstanding indigenous citizen,” he said.
Persaud said that Dr Fox had a peculiar fascination with agriculture and believed that hinterland communities could meet their own food needs as well as meet a quota for export to the Caribbean and beyond. “She was very passionate about that. She never ignored the importance and the contribution and the rich tradition of our indigenous people in terms of agriculture, in terms of food production,” he added.
The minister encouraged the audience to commit to making the project a success, since it could serve as a blueprint for similar projects in other hinterland regions. It will inform the ministry on how to approach similar agricultural ventures in other hinterland areas he said, adding that it was also one way in which government was working with hinterland communities to ensure that they can feed themselves. Persaud said too the project will employ modern technology and training techniques.
According to GINA, the project is a joint collaboration between the governments of Guyana and Spain, through the Spanish Development Agency, and will see the cultivation over a three-year period, of black eye beans, upland rice and other produce. It will support the improvement of rural development of the Rupununi Savannah’s indigenous communities with Moco Moco, Karauaranau, Awarawaunau and Quarria being targeted during the first year. The project will then be replicated in other Amerindian communities in the following two years.
Already, 50 acres of land has been prepared for upland rice cultivation while black eye bean plants have already been sown. Also, a storage bond is under construction in Moco Moco.
The minister also handed over a state-of-the-art combine harvester for the project and two all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) that will be used by the ministry’s staff to conduct extension services in the North Rupununi. “I want to assure you that as part of our programme, our vision in going forward, we will work every single day looking at opportunities where we can improve your livelihood, where we can better your living conditions in all regards and this project is just a manifestation of that, of what we are trying to do,” he said.
