By Bebi Oosman
Residents of Mara, Upper East Bank Berbice; Man-chester Village, Corentyne and several other villages recently informed Presi-dent Irfaan Ali that they were grateful for the work being done in the region through the agencies which fall under the Ministry of Agriculture.
On Saturday in Region Six, President Ali met with residents in Mara, East Bank Berbice; Rose Hall, East Canje Berbice; Port Mourant and Manchester, Corentyne; Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder and Corriverton.
At Mara, one farmer told the president, “I must thank the Agriculture Minister for what he has done in this community. The first speaker mentioned about the conservancy dam. Sir, I must congratulate Mr Lionel [National Drainage and Irrigation Agency Chair-man] Wordsworth. He and couple farmers went down the conservancy dam and come out 10 in the night to witness the breaches” so as to ensure work was carried out quickly at the right locations.
Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha who spoke at the location on Saturday stressed that he has been working along with the farmers to develop the area. He pointed out that since the president’s prior meeting in the area to now, they had excavated 22 canals which in total give service to about 10,000 acres of land.
Additionally, Mustapha said that a committee was set up to work along with the residents as he added that farmers also requested for land to be cleared as “many persons want to get back to the land.”
Mustapha told those gathered that while all the land could not be cleared at the same time, the committee will work to decide how much land will be cleared per farmer.
Mustapha said that they are also working to bring back the “agriculture drive that started here… Things like the citrus crop, the fresh fruits and vegetables and also open up more lands for rice cultivation.”
He stressed that the area has been earmarked for massive development in agriculture.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that farmers in the area had also received input from the Ministry of Agriculture as over 500 trays of planting materials and seeds along with fertilizer were distributed with the area.
According to Mustapha, they were also looking at the possibility of developing new crops in the area and were working along with investors to “link capital and assets, land so that we can link the farmers with investors so that they can have investment in their areas.”
He added that they had started soil testing to know what kind of soil was in the area and what crops would be best suitable to be planted there.
Pointing to the future, Mustapha said that they were also looking at the possibility of building an agro processing facility in the area – 12 of which have already been built across Guyana. “So all these facilities will come your way…As long as the road is in order we are making the necessary input then your agriculture sector will once again strive and you will be one of the most productive areas in this country,” he enthused.
Over at Manchester, Corentyne, residents also informed President Ali of work Mustapha had overseen in their community. One woman told the president that she contacted Mustapha on five different occasions with five different issues all of which were dealt with.
At that stage residents gathered then joined in to support the praise for Mustapha.
Meanwhile, at that location, President Irfaan Ali told the residents that two shade houses would be developed. “I am committing to you now that as we move towards the agri investment in Guyana, we will work with those young people in this community in establishing two shade houses to have high value production in this area,” he said.
He pointed out that all of his promises from the last meeting in the area were met. In agriculture, he said there were 29 projects with more than $185 million being spent in the Manchester/Liverpool area.
Ali said that more than 27 cash crop farmers benefited from the fertilizer distribution programme, seedling distribution, subsidized sale of fruit trees, and extension visits.
Outside of agriculture, Ali said more than 30 roads were completed. “… Additional roads… will be completed in the Manches-ter area so I want you to know that we want this engagement to continue, we want this engagement to expand, we want all Guyanese to be part of this development. At the end of the day we will build one Guyana in which the prosperity of every Guyanese will be the priority,” he said.
