By Pushpa Balgobin
in Paramaribo, Suriname
Agriculture development is directly tied to incentive-based training, according to Dr John R Deep Ford, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Coordinator for the Caribbean.
Ford said that the Guy-ana School of Agriculture was a “classic example” of an institution, which was being underutilised in advancing agriculture at the family level. He said “take the Guyana School of Agriculture. Let me give you a classic example, a person goes to the Guyana School of Agriculture or any school of agriculture…when they graduate what they get is a certificate. The certificate goes on the wall. When they graduate they should get 25 acres of land and when they enter they should know that this is what they are going to get. They are going to pay more attention. They are going to be planning for it, they are going to be ready for it when they come out to go and farm.”
He lamented, “we don’t train people to go and farm we train people to go and advise farmers,” while speaking to the