- as ‘Grow-More’ campaign heightens
FOCUS continues to be placed on increased food production in the hinterland to ensure self-sufficiency of each community and under the current ‘Grow-More’ campaign the necessary support is being given to farmers.

Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, yesterday handed over items such as agro-chemicals, fertilizers, seeds, Farmer’s Manual, acoushi ant bait and corn to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs for distribution to hinterland farmers. The presentation was made to Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai at the Agriculture Ministry, Vlissengen Road and Regent Street.

It was pointed out that the items are part of government’s support package to aid increased food production countrywide as one of the measures to combat the current global food price increase. In the hinterland, focus is being placed initially on agricultural production for self-sufficiency to ensure adequate food supplies, reduce residents’ cost of living and generally improve living standards.

Persaud said statistics have revealed that it costs approximately $150, 000 to hire a truck to transport food into Lethem, thereby contributing to further price increases and cost of living of residents.

The ongoing ‘Grow-More’ initiative seeks to address this constraint and while the hinterland farmers are being encouraged to expand crops cultivation and livestock rearing, they are being given the necessary assistance to embark on such ventures, Persaud explained.

One of the issues affecting hinterland agriculture and which will be targeted in the campaign is control of the acoushi ants through which chemicals will be provided by government to farmers. The programme for the hinterland will focus on promoting the types of crops and livestock activities that are feasible in the particular communities based on the soil and other resources.

Ms. Sukhai expressed gratitude for the assistance for the hinterland communities and pledged her commitment to support the ongoing ‘Grow-More’ campaign particularly its emphasis on addressing the acoushi ant problem.

She noted the need for farmers in the hinterland to pursue cultivation of other crops and livestock activities and commended the move by the Ministry of Agriculture to provide seeds and other items to enable the process.

Currently, government is investing in several major initiatives to boost agricultural production in Guyana including implementation of the US$20M Agricultural Export Diversification Programme that seeks to increase the country’s export growth rate and reduce its volatility.

Another initiative being pursued is the Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Development Programme that focuses on increasing market opportunities available to small-scale producers. It targets increased capacity of rural producers to efficiently and effectively produce and market non-traditional products and develop small scale enterprises.