The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) hosted its first Farmers’ Exchange Programme/Field Day at a five-acre plot in Wakenaam on Thursday to showcase crops cultivated from its 10 new rice strains and improved management practices.
Rice farmer Rodwell Ramcharran cultivated his plot with the 10 new strains and incorporated six improved management practices, a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release said. Thursday’s tour which was done in collaboration with the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association, allowed farmers from regions two, three and four a firsthand opportunity to examine the results of the programme, as the GRDB aims to help them increase their yield to stay competitive on the global market.
Prior to the start of the session, GRDB Extension Manager Kuldip Ragnauth said the exercise aimed to “bring new, improved and relevant technologies to the farmers in order for them to increase their productivity.” It also planned to show farmers the impact, results and benefit that could be had from incorporating the GRDB’s new and improved rice strains and new farming technologies.
“All that we are doing, we are doing it to help you to increase your yield in order to better yourself…for too long farmers have been focusing on variety and paying less emphasis on how to manage them,” Ragnauth said.
Thursday’s tour is the first of four exercises planned for the year.
