BV/ Triumph youth, women to benefit from training in smart agriculture techniques

Youth and women from the Beterverwagting/Triumph area on the East Coast of Demerara will soon benefit from training in the area of smart agricultural techniques.

This was disclosed by Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha during a community meeting on Saturday, November 30th at the Beterverwagting/Triumph Community Center.

The meeting was a follow-up to a community outreach recently hosted by Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.

During the meeting, the Secretary for the Beterverwagting/Triumph Community Development Council (CDC), Jason October told the Minister that there were a number of persons who are farmers and potential farmers who need training in areas such as hydroponics and shadehouse cultivation.

“Mr. Minister, I see myself as a potential farmer and envision Beterverwagting becoming a farming hub that contributes to your vision. I can see the young people of Beterverwagting getting involved in agriculture more so in hydroponics and also shadehouse farming. I am one of the beneficiaries of the RAID Project and I must say thank you for that initiative. What we would like is for some new training programmes and workshops to be initiated in the community so that we can build that motivation and get young people to get more involved in farming and agriculture,” he said.

Responding to the request for training, Minister Mustapha said that the ministry through the National Agriculture Research Institute (NAREI) will commence the training immediately.

“We can start that immediately. I am tasking you with organizing the young people in the area. You should also get the women on board. We will work along with the CDC that is already in place. As soon as the group is ready, we can commence the training. This can begin as early as next week and will be done through NAREI. So, we’ll train you in a number of smart agriculture techniques such as hydroponics and shadehouse cultivation,” he explained.

As it relates to maintaining lands that were cleared for cultivation, Minister Mustapha said that the ministry was open to engaging the CDC on this as it usually engages CDCs in other areas to carry out maintenance on critical infrastructure such as dams, and canals.

Furthermore, Minister Mustapha told farmers that the ministry will continue to work with farmers to execute projects aimed at stimulating production in the backlands of the Beterverwagting/Triumph area.

Several youths and single mothers will also benefit from the ministry’s ongoing Black Giant Chicken programme, with an initial 20 individuals set to receive Black Giant Chicks in the new week.

To assist farmers with accessing lands, Minister Mustapha committed to carrying out infrastructural upgrades to the access dam as well as clearing the drainage and irrigation channels in the cultivation area. He told farmers that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has already commenced works to clear critical drainage canals in the area.

A team from the ministry is scheduled to meet with farmers in the new week to develop a comprehensive agricultural programme for the area (Ministry of Agriculture)