In a bid to boost the economy, create employment and empower youths, President Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday announced that the government will establish agricultural projects at the Mainstay/Whyaka Village in the county of Essequibo.
The first project will see a poultry facility being established at the community’s school where learners will own and operate the facility to produce poultry to meet the demands of the community.
President Ali announced that after consultations with the Lake Mainstay Resort, he was informed that the resort’s demand for chicken is approximately 800 to 1,000 pounds per month.
The poultry project will supply the resort, as well as the school feeding programme, President Ali revealed.
“Government is going to work with you in financing this project that will be led by the children of Mainstay and the school here in Mainstay,” President Ali said during an event in Region Two where he will later attend the Independence Day flag-raising ceremony.
Secondly, President Ali announced that the government will be launching a commercial marine cage project which is aimed at producing some 11 metric tons of fish every nine months.
“Once we do this right, based on the numbers that we have established, the annual profitability can be as much as $10 million,” President Ali highlighted.
The government will also invest in accelerating and expanding the village’s pineapple production, and explore transforming the produce into value-added products.
“We are not sitting and waiting, we are looking at ways and methods, we are looking at policies and programmes that we can bring on board to uplift your lives because that is what we want,” President Ali said.
The projects “seek to increase your resilience, expand your economic base, open up new economic opportunities and create new forms of livelihoods,” President Ali told the residents.
He highlighted that the “children of the future” must understand that agriculture has dignity and that the new methods and techniques of farming include technology, scientific methods, research and development.
“I believe that the new generation from a very early age must be exposed to entrepreneurship and the world of challenges and one of the major challenges that this generation will face, this generation that is coming up, is the global food shortage and you have to instill in them the discipline to produce food,” President Ali said.
He noted that the government will foster an environment conducive to prosperity for all and will create the vehicle through which citizens can actively participate in the economic outcome of the country. (Richard Bhainie)
