Agriculture which is the mainstay of our national economy historically has been concentrated along the coastal belt mainly because of the logistics associated with movement of goods and services as well as the availability and access of arable land and fresh water.

However, as the sector expands continuously inevitably lands on the coast will be exhausted and alternative areas to carry out agricultural activities will have to be developed. It is not that we have a shortage of land but the difficulty has been the reluctance of those involved in agriculture to move into the hinterlands where there are huge tracts of fertile land. But to a large extent this reluctance is understandable because of the relatively high initial investment costs that have to be incurred due to the absence of infrastructure and communication links which are vital in the transportation of inputs and produce as well as the availability of labour in these far flung communities.

In recent times there has been some movement by the government in improving communication links with the hinterlands and once this momentum is maintained the reluctance to go into the interior locations should be considerably reduced and people would therefore increasingly move into these areas.

One exciting prospect in this regard has been the Takutu Bridge and the plan to construct a paved Georgetown/Lethem road through the help of our giant southern neighbour Brazil.

Efforts are also underway to improve road links in Region 8 which like Region 9 has tremendous agricultural potential as many crops like onions, Irish potatoes etc., which cannot be grown on the coast could be grown there.

In addition, the threat of the effects of climate change, which we have seen increasingly manifesting themselves across the globe, will eventually force people to migrate from the coast to higher grounds which are mainly found in the interior regions of this country. And so we cannot or should not wait until that time comes to prepare ourselves, but rather we have to begin now.

In this context, the recent launching of a $128.6M rice and beans project in Region 9 is an encouraging step in the direction of developing and expanding agriculture in our interior regions.

Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud encouraged the audience gathered for the ceremony to commit themselves to making the project a success, because it is not only important for Region Nine, where it is being implemented, but it could serve as a blueprint for similar projects in other hinterland regions.

“It will advise and inform us as to how it is we should approach similar agricultural ventures in other parts of the hinterland of Guyana,” Minister Persaud highlighted.

He indicated that this project is one of the ways government is working with hinterland communities to ensure that they can feed themselves, and further stated that the project will see modern technology and training techniques used.

The hinterland rice and beans project is a joint collaboration between the Governments of Guyana and Spain, through the Spanish Development Agency, and will see the establishment of cultivation over a three-year period of black eye beans, among others, and upland rice.

It will support the improvement of rural development of the Rupununi Savannah’s indigenous communities with Moco Moco, Karauaranau, Awarawaunau and Quarria being targeted during the first year.

The project will then be replicated in other Amerindian communities in the following two years, with the replication based on lessons learnt for a reduction in any problems that were encountered.

Already, 50 acres of land has been prepared for upland rice cultivation while black eye bean plants have already been sown. Also, a storage bond is under construction in Moco Moco and Minister Persaud handed over a state-of-the-art combine harvester for the project, and two all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) that will be used by Ministry of Agriculture staff to carry out extension services in the North Rupununi.

It would now be hoped that this project fructifies and would be replicated in similar communities as it represents a significant step towards the objective of unlocking our agricultural potential in the hinterlands.