One arrested for poisoning Coconut Trees at Hope Estate

The Ministry of Agriculture says it will not sit idly by and allow persons to damage the coconut trees at the Hope Estate, East Coast Demerara.

As such, one person has been arrested for allegedly poisoning 18 of the trees and is said to be cooperating with the Guyana Police Force.

A statement from the Ministry noted that Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder condemned the action and said it remains a cause for concern as these acts seek to undermine the already public progress the Hope Coconut Industries Limited (HCIL) has made.

According to the Minister, all efforts will be made to ensure that the incident is an isolated one, and is calling on the public to exercise maturity.

“Government will not tolerate people who vandalize any structure and in this case, it’s our coconut farms. While we are willing to work in rebuilding our coconut farms, incidents such as these can only hurt the industry,” the Minister was quoted as saying in the release.

It was further noted that the Hope Coconut Industries Limited (HCIL) and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) have been working around the clock to ensure farmers have readily available top quality coconut seedlings.

“Already successful Nurseries are being managed at Pomeroon with farmers from the coconut growing regions taking full advantage of the program.

“Only recently, the Ministry of Agriculture through assistance from the Mexican Government received 450 tissue culture sample as part of the first phase of the program and which will be used to advance its diversification thrust.  The second batch of Tissue Culture is expected to arrive in Guyana by July,” the release noted.

According to the release, General Manager of the HCIL, Rickey Roopchand expressed disgust at the incident and called on Members of the farming community to work together with the HCIL in ensuring that the work of the Ministry is not stymied.