Region 10 schools to benefit from shade houses

―RDC embarks on school agricultural programme

―continuous training to be provided to farmers

DPI, Guyana, Monday, March 18, 2019  

As Region Ten, Upper Demerara-Berbice’s Department of Agriculture rolls out its 2019 programme, seven Secondary Schools are slated to benefit from the provision of shade houses. This is a pilot programme for the department.

The Regional Agriculture Committee was established just earlier this year and the Regional Agricultural Officer (RAO) (ag), Derick Collins, has reported to the Regional Democratic Council, that capital works for the year, have commenced full speed ahead.

The RDC will be providing initial planting materials to these schools, to boost their shade house projects. The RDC is in the process of purchasing the first batch of seeds and seedlings and plastic for shade houses and with the next capital release, wood for the construction will be bought. The Council plans to establish about 20 shade houses across Region Ten, by December. Collins also noted that some schools also requested poultry, swine even fish as they desire to venture into the aquaculture business.

Another major project for the department is the hosting of training exercises for farmers across the region since these serve as the main pillar of the support they receive.

In February, 45 farmers benefited from a training session, which focused on clean and hygienic slathering.  Collins, related to the Council that the aim is to eradicate bottom house butchering and the training conducted by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Ministry of Public Health, emphasised the need for environmentally approved slaughtering, which will be advantageous to the health of the consumers in Linden.

The RAO noted that two other training sessions are scheduled for March. The first will be on sweet pepper agronomy since several farmers have already commenced the cultivation of the crop through a National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) project and the aim is to have more farmers come on board. The training session will furnish the farmers with the skills needed to deal with such a sensitive crop.

The other exercise will deal with poultry diseases. “What we find is that many persons rear poultry and meat birds but do not take into consideration the disease that attacks these birds … so we are trying to bring great awareness of this fact,” Collins noted.

The RDC has scheduled two training sessions for each month in 2019. Every quarter, the team will visit outlying communities so that those farmers as well can benefit from the support mechanism coming from the Regional Agricultural Department. “We can extend our services to these farmers and let Region Ten once again become self-sufficient in terms of agriculture,” Collins noted.

The Councillors commended him for a well-structured plan and expressed their optimism that in the next five years, Upper Demerara-Berbice will be at the helm of self-sufficiency. Out of the $3.9 Billion budget for 2019, agriculture which is a new programme head was allocated $22.7 Million.

Story and Image: Vanessa Braithwaite.