Guyana could be Agriculture powerhouse – President tells Black Bush Polder residents

[www.inewsguyana.com] – President David Granger during his inaugural visit to Black Bush Polder (BBP) on Sunday, October 25, challenged residents to work for Guyana to be the agriculture powerhouse in the Caribbean.

The President was at the time touring the Mibicuri Community Developers Centre, as a part of the ST. Francis Community Developers anniversary celebration, where he met with over a few dozens of residents from the area.

President Granger charged residents to look at new and innovative technologies, which would boost their productivity and reduce production cost.

He explained that the world market is a competitive one and as such framers and investors need to continuously look at the techniques they are using in the agriculture arena. Referencing the current rice situation, he said “I don’t think there is a problem [in the rice industry] but a challenge of getting more from production and accessing modern [farming] technology for production”.

“You are losing money when you have to wait 5-6 days to offload paddy. Other countries are not waiting; they are going and discharge in the silos and returning home to prepare their lands. So there are some factors in the industry that are raising the cost of production and creating problems,” President Granger explained.

The Head of State further announced that he would like to see an efficient rice industry where paddy framers are paid for their paddy. He also disclosed that at the recently concluded United Nations meeting in New York, he was seeking market for rice.

“Guyana is the biggest Caribbean country. Most beautiful and bountiful, and everything we produced can be marketed out of the country through the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME); we are encourage[ing] productions,” he said.

Additionally, as the President touched on the topic of inventing and utilizing new technologies, he stressed on the importance of education.

“Education is so important because you can go on the computer and look at the different technologies being used in production,” he said.

He further explained his vision of transforming the education system in order for every young person to get an education. He stated that “we are trying to rectify the school system and have every child in school. Young people tend to drop out because of the problems in school and when they do, they cannot write, read or count properly.”

President Granger has been advocating for communities to take up the challenge and ensure every child is in school. He called on persons from the different walks of life who can afford to provide school necessities such as food, clothing, transportation fees, etc to children and ensure they are in school, while noting that persons need to break away from the culture of having welfare officers going to homes in the morning and pick up children.