Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture Madanlall Ramraj has defended the ministry’s decision to replace National Agricultural Research & Extension Institute (NAREI) head Dr Oudho Homenauth, claiming that the agency has not performed as expected despite the continued investment that has been made into its work.
“We have started to revamp. NAREI extension was the worst ever. You [the media] have joined us several times across this country in our visits. You heard of the problems irrespective of extension services provided by NAREI,” said Ramraj, who also noted that Dr Homenauth was offered the post of advisor to Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha twice but decided against it.
Stabroek News reported on Saturday that after 20 years as head of NAREI, Dr Homenauth received what he described as an “immediate dismissal” from Ramraj on March 8.
Ramraj, who opined that the post of advisor would have better suited Dr Homenauth at this stage in his career, yesterday said in Berbice that after issues were highlighted across the country about NAREI’s work, the ministry made a decision to remove him.
“How they evolved and what they are doing in terms of production and productivity against rice you would see a separation,” he said, before adding that the government has not seen the “kind of improvement from NAREI as was expected given the amount of resources we have spent in NAREI….”
According to Ramraj, there has been extensive talk about the development of other and new crops but “we have not seen this come in even though the effort and funds are being made.”
He claimed that Dr Homenauth was asked twice to be advisor to the minister but refused to accept same. “Twice this was brought to him and he absolutely refused to be part of that. He said he rather go home and on that particular day I called him to give him the opportunity to [decide] whether he would be coming over to the ministry to provide that advice or wants to sever his service and he decided to go home,” he said.
Despite his criticism of NAREI’s work under Dr Homenauth’s tenure, Ramraj said he would have been an “asset” as an advisor to the minister given his years of experience.
Ramraj described Dr Homenauth’s replacement, former Guyana Rice Development Board General Secretary Jagnarine Singh, as being “more vibrant” and someone “who we think can transform NAREI. We will continue to work to ensure that our strategic plans are adhered to and that we have the right structure in place to ensure that the policies are met.”
Ramraj stressed, that with the revamp, farmers throughout Guyana will benefit as, according to him, there was no sort of motivation or interest at the top level of NAREI. “Time to have new thinking, new persons in place to ensure we meet the mandate,” Ramraj said, as he wished Dr. Homenauth all the best in his future endeavours and encouraged him to “give his services where [they are] best suited.”
While indicating that he had no
intention of fighting to retain the post, Homenauth told this newspaper that he was not comfortable with the way government has sought to disguise what happened to him. It has been claimed that Homenauth had been offered a post at the Ministry and chose to leave but the agronomist is denying this claim.
“Last Monday [March 8] I was called to a meeting by the Director General at the Ministry and was told that this is my last day at NAREI,” he said.
“He [Ramraj] said it was a directive from above that he had tried and the Minister had tried but they had no luck and that they would try to find a place at the Ministry for me. I said, ‘What are you talking about? This is a dismissal! You are dismissing me!’ And I left the meeting at around 2:30 and returned to the institute. I then went home after work and called one of the staff to tell them I had been informed I was no longer CEO so they would have to send someone to collect the institute’s vehicle the next day,” Homenauth explained.
He repeatedly stressed that the Ministry provided him with no explanation for the decision and as far as he is aware there was no complaint about his performance of his duties.
Homenauth said that he was most proud of how the work of the institute over the last two decades has positively affected the availability of food.
