Schools awarded for pesticide awareness, safety practices : – as Agriculture Ministry pushes for better storage of agro chemicals

THE Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board (PTCCB) presented its 2013 Pesticide Awareness Awards Tuesday at the Impeccable Banquet Hall on Brickdam, as part of its observances for Pesticide Awareness Week, which is held under the theme, “Pesticide-Store Wise, Saves Lives”.

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy presents the overall award of Best Pesticide Awareness Corner in a Secondary School to a student of the Corentyne Comprehensive High
Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy presents the overall award of Best Pesticide Awareness Corner in a Secondary School to a student of the Corentyne Comprehensive High
A representative of Geddes Grant, receiving from Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy the award for the Best Pesticide Storage Facility in the country
A representative of Geddes Grant, receiving from Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy the award for the Best Pesticide Storage Facility in the country

There were four awards presented, three to recognise the top three of seven secondary schools that participated in the PTCCB competition and created the ‘best’ pesticide awareness corner in their schools.
The fourth award was to recognise the agro-chemical supplier in Guyana with the best storage facilities for pesticide. This award was presented to Geddes Grant.
Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, speaking at the event, noted that all the schools that were involved in the competition are winners. “You are all winners. There is really no loser; when we have awareness, we all win, and we are trying our best that Guyana is not only aware of the goodness, but also the dangers that come with pesticides,” he said.
The minister noted that “Guyana has evolved from a time when we used pesticides indiscriminately, to now where we are making people aware of the dangers.”
He conceded that there is still room for improvement, especially in the area of storage. He said he was comforted by the fact that pesticide importers are making every effort to improve their own storage, but noted that storage by users leaves much to be desired. “Some of those facilities that sell to the communities leave much to be desired. We have established rules for storage, and these rules have not always been followed,” the minister said.
He said that when the PTCCB attempts to implement the law, they are simply trying to make sure pesticides remain effective and at the same time, persons are not exposed to the dangers of the chemical.
The minister noted that persons who are exposed unnecessarily to pesticides experience respiratory illnesses, and reproductive problems. There is also the biggest problem of suicide which is committed by ingesting the chemicals. In Guyana, on average, 150 to 200 young people commit suicide every year through consuming poison, Minister Ramsammy said.

Schools at the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board 2013 award ceremony at the Impeccable Banquet Hall on Brickdam for Pesticide Awareness Week
Schools at the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board 2013 award ceremony at the Impeccable Banquet Hall on Brickdam for Pesticide Awareness Week

He said that all stakeholders, including children, must play their part to create awareness to ensure just the opportunities and not the perils of pesticides are achieved. “We must combat those perils with knowledge, with awareness and a willingness to do what is right,” the minister said.
PTCCB’s Registrar, Trecia David said that the Board is working with children, because it is easier to effect changes in them.
“In Guyana, one of the hardest things to do is to get the persons who have been using things like pesticides for 20 or 30 years to change their mind-set, and so many places where you go, farmers and other pesticide users purchase these products, but they store them anyhow…so it’s an alarming issue that we are dealing with. That is why we are going to secondary schools; we want the students, we want the young people to be able to go home and assist in changing of the mind-set of those persons. We want them to play a role in actually changing common practices they have been using in Guyana when it comes to chemical use,” she said.
Noting that the activity is part of a series being implemented for Pesticide Awareness Week, David expressed hope that every activity, during the remainder of the week, will yield results, and that “somewhere, someone will walk away with the understanding that the way you store chemicals is important to the health and safety of those around you.”
The award winners were Best Pesticide Awareness Corner in Secondary School: first Corentyne Comprehensive High, second Zeeburg Secondary and third -Charity Secondary. In addition to receiving awards, these schools also received a quantity of farming equipment; with the school in the first position receiving $100,000 in farming equipment, the second, $80,000 and the third, $60,000.
The Board worked with the schools, providing the material/information for the construction of the ‘pesticide awareness corner. The schools were judged according to their adherence to stipulation to the size for the corner, and their use of the space; their creativity, use of language, flow charts, student participant at the corners and the use of materials provided by the PTCCB.
Others schools involved in the competition were Fort Wellington Secondary, Wakapoa Secondary, Patentia Secondary and Central Corentyne Secondary. These schools each received a consolation prize of an agriculture text book, costing $20,000. (GINA)

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