The steady popularization of shadehouse farming in coastal Guyana owes much to the contributions of the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Partners of the Americas, a Washington-based non-governmental organization, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Caribbean Self-Reliance International (CASRI), a Canadian-based non-governmental organization. They may not be the only organizations to have made a mark in seeking to equip coastal small farmers to pursue the option of cultivating fruits and vegetables ‘off the ground’ – so to speak. They are, however, the current prime movers behind a push to ensure that shadehouse or hydroponic farming makes a mark in the country’s agriculture sector.
First IICA, then Partners of the Americas and after that the IDB have pumped millions of dollars into shadehouse agriculture.