…Min. Norton urges young agro-processors

MINISTRY of the Presidency, Department of Social Cohesion, Culture Youth and Sport, collaborated with the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) to host a youth empowerment agro-processing training programme.

The collaboration dates three years back, and to date, 77 persons from across the country have benefited. On Friday, several students graduated from the third batch of participants of the programme.

The programme aims to encourage young people to get involved in agriculture and aid in boosting the said sector to reclaim the country’s title of “the breadbasket of the Caribbean”, and it also gears them to become entrepreneurs.

Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton, admonished the graduates to use their knowledge gained and become their own bosses. He explained that Guyana fell prey to excessive imports and the prosperity of Guyana lies on their shoulders, to bring us back where we used to be.

“It is a well-known fact that agriculture is the backbone of a country’s economy, given that Guyana was once celebrated as the breadbasket of the Caribbean and literally it remains that way, even though the basket might not be as filled at this time as it might have been in the past, but certainly can be in the future. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, this bountiful country of ours fell prey to excessive imports. Many of you might not remember the days of buy local, grow more food that was the household slogan here in our country, a reality that we should never lose sight of. In reality, Guyana is too rich to be importing products. We must never have to be importing coconut water, and it has become ridiculous to see us importing plantain chips. I’ve seen pepper sauce made in Trinidad being served at the table where just looking through the window you could have seen the pepper growing. We have to change things and you the youths must lead the way in this,” Minister Norton said.

He also injected that many times the perception of agriculture is not enterprising, but the advancement of technology has diversified the agricultural sector, to the extent where persons don’t necessarily use the soil or be in the sun in order to farm. As such, more persons should get involved.

Senior Economic Empowerment Officer Samuel Saul, stated that one of their objectives is to create an environment that would work towards reducing the unemployment rate amongst our young people. He shared that the idea of having our young people involved in agro-processing arose from a visit made by their team to the Pomeroon in 2015, when it was observed that there is a lot of wastage of fruits and vegetables. They felt that some of the wastage could be curtailed through the use of agro-processing, so they thought it fit to venture into this programme.

In speaking with the students, all were very much proud of their participation, and expressed that they have gained knowledge that they can now put into practice and also share with others with whom they come into contact .