Georgetown : The ministry of Agriculture, through bilateral cooperation with Mexico, launched a three-day coconut training programme, at the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.
The sessions will focus on sustainability, a renewed emphasis, improving competitiveness, and maximising benefits to stakeholders in the coconut industry.
Dr. Oudho Homenauth, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), who was also the chairperson of the event, pointed out that the sessions will allow the participants to access quality planting materials, identify various value added coconut products, and have a wider knowledge of the industry.
Behind rice and sugar, coconut is the next largest agricultural land occupant country wide, making it ideal for diversification.
Dr. Homenauth further noted that there is heavy focus on this product, not only in Guyana, but in the entire Caribbean region. That is why the government is trying to create a coconut industry instead of small commodities, he added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Wilmot Garnett, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Guyana Representative said that “investing in coconut in Guyana can lead to a highly profitable business. The coconut industry in Guyana ranks next to rice and sugar in terms of land area…in excess of 25000 hectares, representing both productive as well as abundant growth.”
Garnett also pointed out that this programme is a revitalisation one that has seen collaboration among the ministry, Mexico, and the IICA, explaining that it will be expanded in the future.
He also reiterated that some of the challenges that the industry has faced include poor drainage, access to certified planting materials, and high cost of production inputs. However, the sessions are serving to address these issues by educating individuals on cost effective practices that can provide solutions to some of these problems.
He further encouraged the attendees to actively participate in the sessions and to try as much as possible to learn the most they can.
In addition, Gabriel Ferrer, Representative of the Mexican Embassy, expressed gratitude on behalf of his country, and emphasised the strength of the bilateral relations that the two countries share, noting that the partnership began in 1973.
He said “at a bilateral level, a Technical and Scientific Cooperation Agreement was signed between Guyana and Mexico in 1966. A CARICOM-Mexico Cooperation Programme is in effect at the Regional level….IICA and the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture (SAGARPA) developed training programme, aimed at promoting human capacities, to improve the productivity of Caribbean agriculture.”
He added that he is certain that this programme will be of great interest and huge benefit to Guyana.
Also present at the ceremony was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, George Jervis, who said that this programme is a follow- up to a regional consultancy that was done in 2014, to identify the deficiencies in the project.
Further he noted that the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) will see a significant sum of money being invested in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Belize for the operationalistion of key areas covered in the training session. He added that Guyana will be the leading country in this regard.
He pointed out that there are a lot of value added products that can be derived from this industry, and that lately there is a new “buzz,” that coconut oil can be used for medicinal purposes.
Jarvis imparted his knowledge with the gathering, through several stories about when he started his career in agriculture, particularly and coincidentally in the area of coconut cultivation.
In closing, he encouraged the participants to make the best of the training, to ensure that their products will be of a high quality, upholding the standards that the ministry is putting in place.
Among the gathering of stakeholders at the ceremony were Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) representatives.
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