A GROUP of four lecturers and seven students from the Anton de Kom University of Suriname (ADEK) were recently guests of the Agriculture Department of the University of Guyana Berbice Campus.

The lecturers and students were from the Agriculture Department of ADEK and their visit followed an invitation from Dr Subramanian Gomathinayagam. — more familiarly known as Dr Gomes — the Director of Berbice campus who also heads the Agriculture Department at the Tain Campus.
The four Surinamese University lecturers were Head of Department at ADEK University and leader of the group Dr Lydia Ori, Entomologist Ms Kathleen Burke, Soil Scientist Ms Myrna Narain and Food Microbiologist Ms Shakoentla Singh.
The seven students are in their final year and are working on projects as a requirement for their degrees in agricultural sciences.
Mr Krishnanand Raghunandan, Public Relations Officer of the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce who accompanied the group during their visit here said that they paid visits to three farms in Black Bush Polder, Berbice, and one at Canal No. 2, West Bank of Demerara.
They also benefited from field demonstrations, one on vermiculture by Dean of Natural Science, Dr A Ansari, and another on mushroom cultivation by Dr Gomes.
They also met with University of Guyana Deputy Vice Chancellor Mr Phillip Da Silva and other local university officials including Dean of Agricultural Science Mr O. Bovell and Dr A. Ansari during a tour of UG’s Turkeyen Campus.
During discussions with the UG department heads, Dr Lydia Ori suggested a collaborative effort between her university in Suriname and UG’s two campuses to develop a Master’s Degree programme in Agriculture to be offered by both universities.

She asserted that a pooling of knowledge resources by the two universities could see the Guyana-Suriname Region gaining recognition wider afield as a centre for agricultural expertise.
One of the students, Mr Chanderdew Kesharee, is remaining in Guyana for the next two months to work on his project, “Biological Control of Wilt Disease in Tomato by using Biological Control Agents, Trichoderma harizianum, in both pot culture and field conditions”.
Mr Kesharee is being guided in his project by Dr Subramanian Gomathinayagam.

(By Clifford Stanley)