The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), and the Ministry of Agriculture have pooled their efforts to conduct a series of Awareness and Training workshops focusing on farmers, especially women and youth.
The initiative was launched in Regions 6 and 4 where sessions were held focusing on four key areas, to help farmers, women, and youth build their capacity by encouraging them to use climate-smart technology such as the use of micronutrients to boost production, improve yield and the quality of their products which ultimately leads to improved income.
Farmers were also urged to treat agriculture as a business so that they can produce to sell rather than selling what they produce as this will help them to access local and eventually overseas markets.
Information on access to financing, business function, good agricultural practices, understanding and honoring contractual obligations, and access to incubator services were also presented to producers in Albion, East Bank Berbice, Black Bush Polder, and Crab Wood Creek.
Stakeholder businesses that supported the initiative included the Inter-American Institute for Corporation on Agriculture (ICCA), Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), Guyana Food Safety Authority (GFSA), Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED), Small Business Bureau (SBB), World University Service of Canada (WUSC), and Empower Guyana.
The GCCI Agriculture subcommittee which spearheaded the sessions plans to expand to Regions Two, Three, Five and 10.
