-urges small farmers to plant non-traditional crops
The Agriculture Ministry reaped its first crop of carrots and beets from a joint undertaking by the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and called on small farmers to cultivate non-traditional crops at a commercial scale to boost their investment returns.
The demonstration plots were cultivated as part of the ministry’s diversification programme aimed at reducing Guyana’s food import bill, a press release from the ministry said. Currently Guyana imports about $200M worth of carrots and beets per annum which the ministry hopes to bring to an end by 2020.
Recently, Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy called on countries within the Region to emulate Guyana’s achievements in agriculture. He also committed to ensuring that the sector continued to implement other initiatives aimed at advancing new crops for cultivation. The ministry works with the GSA and NAREI to advance the sector through research and expertise sharing and has