Op-Ed | Transforming Guyana through women’s socioeconomic empowerment

By Margaret Burke
INVESTING in women in any country is one of the best things any government can do. And the APNU+AFC coalition government seems to be right on track with such a plan; nurturing an atmosphere that is conducive to women’s self-development and greater potency for employment, whether as entrepreneurs or being employable by other agencies.

While it is expected across most of the world that men should be heads of households; that they should lead and provide security – financial and otherwise– this is not always so. In fact, in many of the Third World countries such as Guyana, a fairly large percentage of homes are female-headed, single-parent households. Here, women take the lead role, being primary caregivers of children and the elderly in the home. And research has shown that while these women navigate the pathways for their children, they are not only enabling changes in the lives of their families, but also playing impacting roles in the society.

Thus the words of President David Granger, who asserted: “It is my belief that if women were economically independent, if they were educated and if they were empowered, we would not have this sort of domination and domestic violence that are taking place in this country.”

It is, therefore, imperative that the government has a hand in this informal setting, one that can have tremendous influence on the nation’s future generation. Studies validate the fact that supporting women’s ability to succeed and advance economically leads to healthy and productive households, growing businesses, and the well-being of communities and nations.

In terms of the children, President David Granger has already stated his intention, through the coalition government: “I have vowed to re-introduce that entitlement…free education from nursery to university. You don’t have to migrate; you don’t have to go away. We are going to build a first-class education system. Every Guyanese child will be educated on all four levels: nursery, primary, secondary and university at the State’s expense – it is your entitlement.

“Once you are educated, this economy will expand. We want highly trained, highly educated workers and you will be able to go out there and deliver quality performance in whatever field you choose. Employment opportunities will expand and we will want to make sure everyone of you, if you can’t be employed by some agency or corporation, you’d be able to employ yourself by expanding enterprise. You’d be able to go to manufacturing, agro-processing, mining and other forms of production,” he assured.

Agriculture, a major player
Findings back up the position that nearly one-third of the world’s women are involved in agricultural employment. The possibility of Guyana being the ‘breadbasket’ of the Caribbean is still real. At the moment, agro-processing is now an important aspect of entrepreneurial development. Value-addition also includes jams, jellies, sauces and juices, pickles, peppers, dried powder spices and much more, made from fresh fruits and vegetables produced on farms here.

Additionally, many of these women are now adding value, not only to their agricultural produce from the land, but also to their livestock such as pigs – for pork, pickled hams, sausages, and the like. These are all items that are placed on the shelves of supermarkets around the country and the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC), which is one of the major players in this regard.

Furthermore, with oil and gas on the horizon, agriculture and agro-processing will be even more in demand. Coconut oils, coconut casreep, soaps, shampoos and other condiments are also being produced, as the industry expands.

Additionally, there will be a greater demand for dried foods such as cassava bread in all its forms, including cassava quinches, farine – a cassava cereal and many other items. There are also items such as dehydrated and candied fruits for cakes, puddings and other desserts being produced. Beekeeping is also becoming a big and booming industry in Guyana. All of these are produced in mostly small industries, where women are involved.

Honouring women
In August of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture honoured some 100 female farmers, who are involved in agriculture-related activities. These activities include cash crop farming and poultry and livestock rearing from the villages of Buxton, Haslington, Nabaclis and Golden Grove on the East Coast of Demerara, and Linden. The ‘female’ farmers were given a day of relaxation during the Ministry of Agriculture’s first ever ‘Women in Agriculture

Appreciation Day’ exercise.
While offering remarks, Minister Adams-Yearwood said it was evident that female farmers carry equal loads to men and continue to override the many challenges they face by creating innovative solutions to push the sector. Minister Adams-Yearwood stated that she felt the need to host the event after meeting with several groups of female farmers who devoted most of their lives to agriculture.

“After meeting with these women, I realized that, apart from being mothers and wives, they have dedicated most of their lives to the sector and were never afforded the opportunity to have a day off. These women did and continue to do so much for the sector and I felt they deserved a day off; after all, women are the backbone of any rural economy, especially those in developing economies,” Minister Adams-Yearwood noted. She added that over the years, women have played, and continue to play, significant and crucial roles in agricultural development in Guyana.

Entrepreneurs and small industries
Women of the Amerindian communities also play a major role in agriculture. The Wowetta Women’s Agro-processers group, which started in 2015, is titled “Empowering the women of Wowetta to mitigate threats of food security resulting from drought, flooding, wildfire and extreme climate change.” Their farine processing factory in the North Rupununi was dedicated as part of Agriculture Month in 2018. This project continues to be a thriving one with many other products added to their list.

The community of Capoey of Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) also has women who are seriously working to become independent entrepreneurs. These women are already involved in a number of agro-processing and other activities, but intend to get even more involved in others. The coalition government is very supportive of their ventures.
The Women Agro-processors Development Network (WADNET) is also another interesting group of women. It is made up of some 11 community-based groups of women and continues to grow, since many more women are expressing interest. Though the majority of the groups are from the hinterland, others are spreading out along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, in Region Four, as well as in Region Five on the West Coast of Berbice.

Education, training, jobs
This year (2019) women farmers from many parts of Guyana, including Coomacka, benefitted from an agro-processing seminar for farmers involved in the rearing of cattle and pigs under the Ministry of Agriculture and Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). The training placed emphasis on livestock farmers on the value-added products – corned beef and salted pork. Region Five and the Belladrum Shade House Group on the West Coast of Berbice, as well as groups in Region Nine all received special training.
Additionally, women in areas such as the Rupununi, specifically in the communities of Nappi, Masara, Aranaputa, Bina Hill and Annai have just recently benefitted from farming symposiums as well.

Many of these women farmers have so far been able to secure local and international markets, with prospects looking great for the rest of 2019 and even better in 2020. At lot of them are involved in the processing of raw agricultural materials, which consist of a variety of hot peppers, seasonings, peanuts, fruits, cassava, coconuts, forestry products and even traditional medicines into value-added products.

Chairperson of the Central Mahaicony-Perth Farmers’ Association, Ms. Gloria Adams in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), represents the rural communities within that district. Their main economic activities being farming, which comprises rice cultivation, cash crops in large variety, fruits, vegetables, ground provisions, dried coconuts and coconut water, fishing and even hunting. Farmers in these communities are also engaged in large-scale livestock farming of poultry, the bovine specie swine; sheep, goats, cows and donkeys.
Meanwhile, there are diverse groups of women in business rising up all over Guyana. Many of these women are now being encouraged to get more involved in information and communication technology (ITC). The APNU+AFC coalition is investing heavily in advancing education, training and provision of incentives and support systems to facilitate the entrance of women into the workforce and self-employment. Women must rise to the challenge since it is the intention of government that women attain the relevant skill- set, that are required for the job market either as entrepreneurs or employees in the public or private sector.

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