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Dr. Robin Brumfield, a Professor of Rutgers University in the USA, and a specialist in farm financial management and greenhouse production, is the resource person in the programme which began Monday and goes until August 11 next.
The venue is the St. Stanislaus College Farm (SSCF) in Sophia.
Dr. Brumfield’s visit is sponsored by Partners of the Americas Farmer to Farmer programme, a foreign assistance programme which is supported by the U.S. Congress and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Farmer to Farmer programme brings together agricultural professionals and practitioners from the U.S. and the Caribbean who serve as volunteers, working with farmers and agribusiness owners in Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua and The Dominican Republic to identify local needs and design projects to address them.
The local chapter in Guyana, linked with Mississippi, works on projects in diverse areas including health, reproductive rights, emergency preparedness, agriculture, and cultural and educational exchanges.
The aim is to improve economic opportunities in rural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean by increasing food production and distribution, promoting better farm and marketing operations and conserving natural resources.
Dr. Brumfield, who specializes in farm financial management at Rutgers University, has particular expertise in shadehouse (greenhouse) production and management.
She has helped shadehouse owners in the U.S. make effective managerial decisions to sustain their operations. She has also developed ‘Greenhouse Cost Accounting’, a computer programme that allows greenhouse managers to allocate costs to specific crops that has become the standard for the greenhouse industry.
She wrote the marketing and business management chapters for the 7th edition of the best-selling textbook, Greenhouse Operations and Management by Dr. Paul V. Nelson.
She said: “I am honoured to be able to help shadehouse producers in Guyana better understand and manage their costs and other business management considerations so that they can be more profitable.”
Dr. Brumfield visited Guyana in 2012 and conducted training under the Hydroponic Shadehouse Vegetable Production and Marketing Project.
On this visit she will introduce female shadehouse producers to the curriculum for Suzanne’s Project, which she started in Turkey in 2011 to train women farmers there on the basic skills they need to sustain profitable agricultural businesses.
The programme started Monday but interested farmers can still contact Kelvin Craig, Country Coordinator, Farmer to Farmer programme, Partners of the Americas (Guyana Chapter), at (office) 592-222-2991, (cell) 592-623-4263 or by email at kelvin_craig@yahoo.com. for more details.
