Daag Point to get 50 acres of land for citrus production

– shade houses to be integrated into hot meal programme

Citrus production will soon be expanded in the village of Daag Point, Region Seven as the government has committed to acquiring 50 acres of land which will bring great income to the community.

This was revealed by His Excellency Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali who led a team through a series of outreaches to several villages within the region on Thursday.

The president has since engaged the Ministry of Agriculture which is tasked with identifying the land for the project.

“In this community, I have already asked the Ministry of Agriculture to identify 50 acres of land so that we can do a large-scale citrus plantation here. We will work with you, work with the young people, work with women to build out that plantation, and then link that citrus to the market,” the head-of-state posited.

Referring to the juice shared under the Ministry of Education’s School Feeding Programme, President Ali noted that Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) has the responsibility of supplying the product and only using fruits that are produced in the country of which there isn’t enough.

As such, with the implementation of this citrus plantation, it can steadily supply the DDL market which will result in the village seeing additional revenues being circulated.

The agriculture ministry is also looking at ways in which the crops from shade houses can be integrated into the hot meal programme.

“I have asked the Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture mister Madanlall Ramraj to look at ways in which we can integrate the shade house with the hot meal programme. So, that you can produce some of the spices, peppers, and green leafy vegetables in order to have input and support from the shade house into your hot meal programme,” President Ali stated.

Moreover, the head-of-state revealed that there is an ongoing regularisation process with the Guyana Lands and Survey of which 87 plots of land have been already regularised to lease to families in Daag Point. Each family will get half an acre of land.

“We not only want to give the lease but we want to sit down with these 87 families and see how we can help them to put their land into productive use. To put their land into duck production, to put their land into egg production,” the country’s leader stressed.  

Meanwhile, to expand the agricultural initiatives and meet the 25 by 2025 food security goal, the president noted that the government is ready to commence training for 50 persons in honey production.

These persons will be provided with the necessary equipment to undertake this training.

With these initiatives set to take place in the village, President Ali assured that the community of Daag Point will undergo massive development under the PPP\C government.