Beginning last August the Agriculture Department of the St. Ignatius Village Council has been facilitating a Farmers’ Market for Farmers drawn from Central Rupununi, including the villages of – Quarrie, Moco Moco, Kumu, Hiawa, Parishara and St Ignatius, among others. The Market is staged on the lawns of a well-appointed open space populated by modest buildings, from which vantage points the ‘vendors’ ply their trade.
Roldan Welcome, the Village Counsellor whose responsibility it is to ensure that the event is run off in good order, appears to take his responsibilities seriously. For the Farmers and Kitchen Gardeners in the various communities the event is one of considerable importance. It affords them a well-attended market at which to sell their produce, and by extension to generate earnings that cannot otherwise be easily realized. At the Market, too, deals could be struck that allow for longer term trading business relationships. Welcome appears pleased with the trading environment which the Market allows.
It is, it seems, a thriving market venture. The (approximately) thirty stalls that populate the compound display items that include Casareep, Honey, Cassava Bread, Citrus, Vegetables, Fresh and Roasted Fish, Roasted Pork, Live Chickens, Farine, Tuma Pot, Furniture and Costume Jewellery.
When the Stabroek Business visited the Farmers’ Market back in November the Parent-Teachers Association of the St Ignatius Nursery School had set out its own stall, offering snacks for a school fund-raising event.
The compound in which all of this takes place is one of the best-appointed spaces in the community. It is well cared-for, and spacious, allowing for observance of the protocols associated with the still rampaging Covid-19 pandemic. The next Farmers’ Market is scheduled to be staged at the end of January.
In a community where sizeable business gatherings are rare the people applaud the initiative. Apart from its income-generating virtue it facilities one-off meet-and-greet occasions that are important for community relations. The Stabroek Business spoke with two women from the Quarrie community. They were there simply to see what the market ‘look like.’ They wanted, they said, to assess its potential commercial benefits before venturing into a farming initiative of their own. Quarrie is one of the known farming communities in that part of Region Nine.
Lissa Orella, the Proprietor of Manari Guest House and Ranch (featured in an earlier issue of the Stabroek Business) makes monthly visits to the Market to purchase vegetables for the Guest House. Evelyn Daniels and her spouse Aaron Stephens (whose stories also appeared in an earlier issue of the Stabroek Business) were there, too, and from all appearances they were having a good trading day. Kim Casimero and her spouse were there as well. The Market Day was the primary reason why they had returned to farming.
Milton Griffith whose Mountain View S & M Farm was making his first appearance at the Market Day was offering cash crops and pork for sale. By the time we got to him he had already sold three pigs worth of pork. Most of his vegetables, too, had been sold. Prior to entering into his current farming venture Milton had worked as a Taxi Driver and a Tour Guide. He talked about his visits to Brazil with tourists. He had also accompanied tourists to various Falls in the Region. After working the Lethem-Georgetown route for a while he decided to move into agriculture. He acquired a five-acre plot of land about a five-minute drive from his home at St Ignatius and along with his wife Sharon, established the S&M Mountain View farm. He is pleased with the progress that he is making. The couple also run a grocery store at St. Ignatius.
Jocelyn James had come to the Market hoping that the furniture that she was offering for sale would ‘catch the eyes’ of shoppers. Her husband and son serve as the furniture makers. Along with the furniture she was also offering several fruit plants for sale. One the day it did not appear that she had had much luck with selling furniture.
Frederick, Sharon’s husband, hails from Aishalton. He resides at St. Ignatius. As a child he had been stricken with polio. Even with his physical limitations, however, he manages to make a living as a joiner. His own business had ‘kicked off’ with a $350,000 loan from the Institute for Private Enterprise Development. (IPED). Access to raw materials for furniture-making has been one of his challenges.
The experience of the St. Ignatius Farmers Market shatters what has been the oft-repeated myth about the generally ‘laid back’ nature of the country’s Amerindian population. In truth, they are no different to many of our coastal dwellers who are preoccupied with finding legitimate means of earning a living…except that in their instances, they must do so against the backdrop of far more obstacles.
