The Kuru Kururu Farmers Crops and Livestock Association (KKFCLA) is implementing a project to address the impacts of climate change which will see rooftop and ground catchment facilities for rainwater among other initiatives.
It is doing this with funding from the Small Grants Programme funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
A release on Monday from the UNDP/GEF Small Grants Programme noted that agriculture is the main economic activity of the community and it is dependent on rain-fed water. It said that since there was no irrigation scheme and with the unpredictability of rainfall as a result of climate change, the community is taking action.
“The project will adopt rain water harvesting techniques combined with appropriate irrigation and crop production practices to mitigate the effects of climate change and to address sustainable crop production. Through this initiative, the group will establish rooftop and ground catchment structures to capture and store rainwater, cultivate twenty … acres of pineapple using drip irrigation techniques and bio-degradable plastic mulch, and disseminate information to the wider farming communities through exchange visits, seminars, field visits and educational tours”, the release said.
This $20 million project will also see in-kind support from KKFCLA. Kuru Kururu is located 36 km from Georgetown and the KKFCLA has been in existence for over a decade. The main crops grown by the community are eddoes, coconuts, citrus including oranges, limes, tangerines and lemons, pak-choy, cabbage and bora. The community also rears poultry and honey bees. The release noted that women are in the majority in the KKFCLA.
