The Ministry of Agriculture recently signed a MoU with the University of Guyana (UG) and McGill University that will allow 24 engineers to read for a Post Graduate Certificate in Water Resource Management.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry Dindyal Permaul inked the agreement with UG Dean of the Faculty of Technology Sherwood Lowe. According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release 15 of the 24 persons will be drawn from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, the Guyana Sugar Corporation and the Mahaica/Mahaicony/ Abary-Agriculture Develop-ment Authority. The evening programme is set to start in April and will include all of the ministry’s engineers.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud said the programme will entail hydrology and water resources management, drainage and irrigation, hydraulic structures and geotechnical investigation courses. The training is part of the capacity-building actions earmarked for the engineers to enhance their proficiency in water management and provide additional skills for the execution of their duties in a more effective manner.
The minister said the severe dearth of specialty in the area of hydrological studies has been recognised, prompting the unique partnership with the universities. Persaud said too the ministry is pleased to provide the resources to facilitate studies in these key areas since many persons employed under water and weather management systems have not benefited from training. He also said the minimal training that some engineers have received has proven to be inadequate given Guyana’s expanding cultivated lands and the effects of climate change. “So we have to bring the technical advances of these institutions up to standards in the most cost effective manner,” he said.
Persaud said during a visit to McGill University he explored the possibility of having a water management programme undertaken locally. “It will allow every engineer in water management to be exposed to these areas of training in drainage and irrigation,” he said. According to the minister there must be renewed efforts in equipping the ministry’s human resource with the necessary skills to build capacity. Investing in this partnership will also benefit UG as in order to host the programme, the laboratory will need to be upgraded. “Let’s see if we can deepen this project and extend it to other countries in the region and really make Guyana the centre for excellence in water and land resource management,” Persaud said.
Meanwhile, in prepared remarks read by Lowe, UG Vice-Chancellor Lawrence Carrington said he was delighted with the government’s Low Carbon Development Strategy since it creates the space within national development projects for new ideas. “I recall that my very first initiative as Vice-Chancellor was to open the possibility for a cross-faculty project on drainage, irrigation and coastal zone management. This programme is critical to the development of capacity and competence in an area that Guyana must cultivate in order to mitigate the deleterious effects of climate change and to maximise its natural resources,” Carrington said.
According to the statement, the VC also referred to Guyana as a living laboratory for the study of water resource management and its application to agricultural productivity, human health, alternative energy and economic growth. Carrington said he cherished the tripartite initiative and congratulated the minister Persaud for recognising applied scholarship as a catalyst to national development.
