Dear Editor,
During the last two weeks a lot was said about food security around the world and in our country, and this being agriculture month a lot more will be said and written on this topic.
A long letter was written about the success of the Grow More Food campaign by the General Manager of the new Guyana Marketing Cooperation, Mr Nizam Hassan.
One must remember that the new Guyana Marketing Cooperation is one of several agencies that are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that this campaign is successful, and as such not everything the General Manager says must be regarded as gospel. Mr Hassan presented some prices for a whole lot of produce before and after the campaign, some of which are inaccurate.
For the past two years the average prices of plantains, eddoes, cassava, pumpkin and water melons are far higher that what is quoted by him. These are the average current retail prices per pound for some of the staple foods we produce:
Plantains 100.00
Eddoes 80.00
Cassava 60.00
Sweet Potatoes 60.00
Yams 80.00
Water melons 100.00
And it is anticipated that because of flooding caused by the recent abnormal high tides that affected several farmers in many areas such as the Pomeroon River and the Essequibo in Region Two, and Karabaru, Tiger Island, Troolie Island, Wakenaam and Hog Island in Region Three, in these farming areas prices can only go up.
The late President Forbes Burnham decades ago had preached to this nation that we must feed, clothe and house ourselves by using what we produce as far as possible, and also made the slogan ‘Produce or perish’ popular.
So the Grow More Food campaign is nothing new. But the outcome of the campaign must not be determined by those who are primarily responsible for it. It must be determined by the consumers, especially the housewives, and if the intent and purpose of the campaign is to have more food and quality food at cheaper prices reach the public, then the campaign so far is not successful.
Yours faithfully,
Archie W Cordis
Farmer
