Georgetown: Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy has lauded family farmers for investing most if not all of their resources into boosting the sector.
The Minister was at the time delivering his remarks at the Guyana Agriculture School (GSA) activity for Agriculture Month 2014, which is being observed under the theme “Enhancing agriculture through family farming and the use of sustainable technologies”.
According to the Minister, agriculture is the vehicle not only for sustainable growth but for social progress and prosperity. He identified Guyana as a major producer of foods that are being used around the world. Ramsammy recognised the importance of family farming and the accomplishments it has yielded over the years. “The family farm continues to be the foundation on which we build and promote agriculture in Guyana,” the Minister said as he highlighted that it was family farming that made the rice industry in Guyana bloom into a giant in the Region.
He boasted that not even the entire Caricom combined can compare to the level of rice production that Guyana engages in. He disclosed that the country is on its way to achieving a milestone of exporting 500,000 tonnes of rice this year, with an estimated production of 600,000 tonnes of rice in 2014.
On this note, the Minister highlighted the investment made in Guyana by small farmers for this year when compared to family farmers. He revealed that small farmers plugged over $30 billion into the rice industry while those in the cash crop sub-sector invested some $10 billion and artisanal fisherman put in another $10 billion. However, family farmers have injected in excess of $50 billion annually.
“That is because they have come to see that agriculture is profitable, that agriculture produces and feed people. They have come to see that agriculture can create employment,” he stated. Ramsammy noted Agriculture Month is being observed this year in recognition of those farmers who invested all their resources to grow the agriculture industry.
He recommitted Governments support’s towards small and family farmers’ development and sustainability through technology. “2014 Agriculture Month gives us a chance to begin an accelerated movement towards sustainable technology to improve agriculture at a brand new level, at the medium-size farms and in mega-farms,” he stated.
According to the Minister, among the high costs in agriculture are pesticides and fertiliser use, and he noted that the issue of a sustainable environment must be addressed. “We are already combating climate change because in our earlier periods of development around the world, we were not too cognisant of the impact we are having on the environment,” he stated.
The Minister went on to talk about mechanisation in the agriculture sector, which he noted the sugar industry have adopted and the rice industry is close to fully adopting. He said that through the GSA, the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), and the Guyana Livestock Development Association (GLDA) along with the fisheries department, the Agriculture Ministry is introducing new technology such as the use of bio-fertilisers.
“Guyana in 2014 has decided we have to find a greater role for bio-fertilisers and introduced natural predators for the pests that take over our crops. I want to show to the world that tests we are willing to try sexy things, but that we are willing to try sustainable technology not as a test but to replace the unsustainable practices that are used in Guyana, in the Caribbean and around the world,” he declared.
Ramsammy remarked that while the agriculture sector has come a far way, there is still a long way to travel to make the sector the pillar of a diversified economy.
You must be logged in to post a comment.