Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha along with a team of officials from his ministry and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) along with several PPP/C constituency representatives visited a number of villages along the Corentyne Coast in Region Six on Saturday. The officials engaged residents on some of the pressing issues faced in the communities.
The minister along with the visiting team conducted a community walk-through in Manchester, Zambia (Black Bush Polder), and Number 53 Village (Union) to get a first-hand look at the drainage and infrastructural need in the areas as the government continues with its developmental plans for communities across the country.
Minister Mustapha indicated that the visit resulted from commitments made to community representatives who had previously engaged him and asked that he have a firsthand look at some of the drainage infrastructure in the areas.
“This visit is a result of some issues that were raised with me when I was in New Amsterdam a few days ago with the President and I committed to coming today to see firsthand what were some of the issues and how we can resolve them. The main issues raised were drainage and improved access within their communities. So, as early as next week in Manchester, we’ll start desilting the internal drains. There is also a major canal at the back of that village that we’ll do work on. I’ve asked the engineer to send a machine by Monday to start those works,” he explained.
As it relates to Number 53 Village, Minister Mustapha said that the ministry is also scheduled to commence works to upgrade drainage infrastructure in the community.
“In Number 53 Village, there are some drainage issues that we’ll tackle immediately. We’ll construct some culverts and so on because we engaged the residents and these were the requests they made. We are committed to working with everyone and it is clear that Guyanese want development. They are seeing that this government is all about development and given the response and the welcome received I know that we have the support,” the minister noted.
One resident from Manchester village told the minister that there are many young people in the community in need of jobs who are interested in agriculture.
Minister Mustapha explained that there were opportunities in agriculture for youths and that he would soon be launching the president’s Agriculture and Innovation Entrepreneurship Programme (AEIP) in the area.
“I’ll also be coming back to Manchester soon because a resident indicated that a number of youths want to get involved in agriculture cultivating high-value crops. You know the president established that programme and said that we will replicate it nationwide. So, I’ll work with the community to identify the youths and soon we’ll be back to launch that programme in the Manchester/Lancaster/ Liverpool area,” he noted.
