Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha on Tuesday assured scores of residents from Ann’s Grove village, East Coast Demerara that he and his team are committed to implementing proper drainage systems to support their farming ventures.
Mustapha also gave his word that farmers can expect the ministry’s support on a range of other critical issues too.
The meeting with residents comes days after Mustapha accompanied Prime Minister, Mark Phillips, and other Cabinet Members at a community outreach.
Farmers from Ann’s Grove, Clonbrook, Bee Hive, and other surrounding villages used the opportunity to raise issues about drainage, access to breeding animals, markets for their produce, and other inputs to advance farming in their communities.
Minister Mustapha, while addressing farmers said government has been aggressively working to ensure every village’s agriculture potential is realized. He noted that every community has a role to play and that resources will be made available to assist every farmer.
While speaking on issues raised, Minister Mustapha said the ministry through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has expended hundreds of millions of dollars to enhance drainage and irrigation infrastructure in farming communities across the country.
He also said that the works being requested by residents will be done but it has to be undertaken in an organized way.
“All the drainage and irrigation issues that were raised; we will do a work programme to guide the process. The engineers will visit all the areas to do an assessment. We’ll do a work programme so that we can decide which canals are a priority and we’ll do those ones first. I can assure you, that shortly, as soon as the work programme is done we start those works,” he said.
The minister added, “I made a commitment last Saturday that we will deal with your drainage issues. I’ve asked NDIA to look at it and they’ve already started to do some work to ensure systems are being put in place to address those issues.”
In terms of access to markets for produce, Minister Mustapha said there are readily available markets for Guyana’s produce in the region.
“Guyana Marketing Corporation has an obligation to help farmers to get markets for their produce. I’m in constant contact with Ministers of Agriculture from across the region; countries like Trinidad and Barbados; and they are requesting fresh produce from Guyana. So, there are ready markets in the Caribbean for our farmers’ produce.
“We’ve also been working to remove those non-tariff barriers that affected exports to those countries so we’ll work with you to find markets,” he explained.
Farmers present also benefited from fertilizers and other inputs to assist with their farming activities.
