From Santa Rosa to your cup
[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkV23mc3b8″ width=”100%” height=”315″]
―ground coffee industry in Santa Rosa being revived
DPI Guyana, Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Santa Rosa, in Region One, is actively working to revive its once-thriving coffee industry following a $25Million investment from the Coalition Government.
This village, which is the largest Indigenous community in Guyana is made up of a collection of 11 settlements spread out across the Savannah wetlands, was known for its coffee production with its factory producing coffee to market in Charity, Region Two. However, over time, this industry dwindled.
When given the opportunity to venture into an economic project to simulate their local economy, the residents quickly organised and decided to revive the coffee industry. The project was deemed feasible since the area still has the fertile soil best suited for growing coffee. It was decided that one-acre coffee farms will be established in each of the 11 satellite communities within Santa Rosa.
In 2018, the government allocated the sum of $10 Million to construct a 100×30 shade house nursery and cleared 15 acres of land. The National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) also assist in tested the soil. An additional $15 Million was allocated this year for the construction and furnishing of the Processing Facility.
Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe who recently visited the area, explained that the shade house nursery will accommodate the over 13,000 invitro, disease free, sterile stage 1 Robusta coffee plantlets that arrived from the Nature Source Improve Plants Laboratory in Tapachula, Mexico. The plants were delivered on Sunday, February 24, by Leroy Santiago of Mexico, a coffee specialist who is assisting the farmers in this venture.
One of the Santa Rosa farmers, Vibert Torres told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that Santiago provided them with the know-how to prepare the soil for the coffee.
“So, we are mixing the pro mixture that Santiago brought in from Mexico along with sand from the creek, and topsoil from the farm (black sand), burnt paddy and chicken mole and dried paddy shell. We packed the mixture in small bags and place the plantlets to grow under the shade house,” Torres explained.
The coffee plantlets are watered frequently and shaded from bright sunlight for just over two months before they are ready to be transplanted in the farms. Planting will take place during the wet season so that the soil remains moist while the roots become firmly established.
Minister Garrido-Lowe, explained that 15 farmers from the 11 satellite communities will receive 800 plantlets per acre.
“This year we will start building the processing facility… It’s a three-year project and the coffee will start to produce within two and a half years. so, we want to be ready when it starts to harvest. We what to promote it as ‘Santa Rosa Indigenous Coffee…we want it to have the ‘Indigenous brand’.” She added, “This is the start of an industry that will be there for years to come.”
Minister Garrido-Lowe described the initiative as is the beginning of ‘something great’. She noted that the facility will serve as a research centre, for officers from the Ministry of Agriculture who have little or no knowledge of coffee production and can also be a spin-off for many more coffee projects in the future.
The Minister that this project is just one of many initiatives being implemented by the APNU+AFC Government to ensure that the people are empowered economically, in a green, sustainable way.
In the meantime, while the coffee is growing in the farms, the shade house will be used to cultivate other crops that will be supplied to the school’s hot meals programme and surrounding communities.
With the assistance of the Ministry of Social Protection, Co-operative Society Department, the Santa Rosa Coffee Co-op was formed.
This transformative and sustainable project will benefit the almost 10,000 residents of Santa Rosa.
Synieka Thorne
Images: Adrian Persaud