Farmers on the Corentyne at a recent public outreach vented their frustration about NAREI as they said that they have been receiving minimal assistance resulting in Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha expressing his dissatisfaction with the entity in Region Six.
In Bush Lot, Corentyne, two weeks ago, farmers told Mustapha that they are experiencing certain issues with some of their crops and when they reached out to the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), they did not receive much assistance.
One farmer said that a sample of his soil was sent for testing by NAREI since last year and he was yet to receive results.
Mustapha questioned the NAREI officer who was present at the location and was told that the sample was indeed sent for testing but no results came back. It is unclear whether the officer had made any efforts to follow up the testing.
Mustapha then stated, “I am very dissatisfied how NAREI has been performing in this part of the region. If the officers are saying that they sent down information, we have the man in charge of NAREI here, we will have some meetings and I will deal with these issues.”
Stressing that NAREI is in place to assist farmers countrywide, the minister said, “they have to be more responsive, they have to, and I want to tell you that the President (Irfaan Ali) himself is very passionate about agriculture because we see agriculture as one of the most important sectors, if not the most important sector.”
He pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic during which he said that countries around the world had difficulties sourcing food for their population despite having large financial resources, “there was just a downturn in production and people were just producing for themselves. In Guyana we are producing 60% of the food but we want to increase that production and we want to go into new crops.”
Meanwhile, at the Bushlot location, one farmer, Leslie, who has his farms at Friendship Village, explained that his bora, okra and some other plants were affected by an unknown disease. “I am not getting any solution for this disease…”
Another farmer, Richard Budhu, of Number 51 Village, Corentyne, told the minister that as soon as his tomato plants are about to bear the flowers start to fall off and the plants then suddenly die. He relayed that he has tried to spray the plants multiple times but the same still happens.
Mustapha then said, “If we continue like this, we can’t”, pointing out that the Ministry of Agriculture’s budget has increased with NAREI “getting a large sum of money, we buying a lot of resources for NAREI.”
He then noted, “We giving free chemicals, we giving all the materials free, and I don’t know why people in this area are not getting those facilities, they will have to ensure they answer when we meet but I want to assure farmers here today, all the planting materials we will give you free of cost.”
