By Navendra Seoraj

EXEMPLIFYING hard work and perseverance, farmer Lloyd Doobay, 51, has been employing innovative ways to stay in the agriculture business, in which he has been engaged for the past three decades.Doobay carries on his farming business from the little community of Laluni, on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. Over the years, he has provided employment to persons within the community to keep up with his expanding variety of crops, now numbering over 62, with the latest addition being Irish potatoes. His main crops include cherries, peppers and eggplant.

Achieving such a feat did not come easy for the farmer. He started out as a security guard with the Guyana Stores Limited in 1983, but found the job could not provide for his growing family and their betterment. He needed to think of another means of earning an income to provide for his wife, Ramdularie, and three children – one boy and two girls.

In 1985, Doobay moved his family to Laluni, where he started cultivating tobacco; then the industry collapsed. Battling poverty, Doobay resorted to operating a grocery shop, which gave him the entrepreneurial skills needed to progress further.

With the shop not doing as well as he had wanted, Doobay once more resorted to his passion – farming. He recruited a group of persons from the area and they began cultivating various crops on nearby land. However, as time went by, his human resources became depleted by the eventual exodus of persons, and the farmer was left with just about 61 different crops to manage by himself.

“Maintaining my produce was hard, but I never gave up because I loved what I was doing. I planted them with the help of good workers, and I won’t leave this place till the day I die. This is what allowed me to be who I am today, and send my children to school,” the farmer confessed.

For over 30 years, he fought the bondage of poverty, and eventually got to where he is today. In that process, apart from creating betterment for his family and himself, he provided employment for neighbouring persons, especially youths who work along with him and his son, Ravi, on the farm.

Doobay is not just a prolific farmer, but is also an accomplished entrepreneur. He is currently the main supplier of cherries to popular juicing factory “Topco”, and is also engaged in other commercial activities, thanks to his perseverance and patience.

Along with the help of his son Ravi, Doobay continues to work hard to produce more and develop his farm.

Currently, he is seeking major markets for his wide produce of the different varieties of pepper he has cultivated.

Doobay is currently involved in a ground-breaking experiment with the Canadian non-profit organization World University Services of Canada (WUSC), cultivating Irish potatoes in Guyana. The farmer says he intends to be the largest producer of potatoes in the country, once the experiment is proven successful.

Other farmers were selected to grow Irish potatoes, but the dry weather curtailed their efforts.
Doobay, however, innovatively drilled a well next to his plot, from which he has been able to access enough water to supply his crops.

If all goes well, Doobay will be able to harvest approximately 17,000 pounds of potatoes in two months’ time.