Aranaputa villagers in Rupununi look to better life
RESIDENTS of Aranaputa, a little North Rupununi village, are gearing to move their community from just above survival status to one of significant growth and economic development.
They said, with the opening of the Takutu River Bridge, prospects of the Linden/Lethem road being upgraded and laying of a fibre optic cable along that route, things are happening.
“Changes are coming and we are preparing for them, so that we can take the economic prosperity of our village and the quality of life to a higher level,” said Chairman of the Village Council, Mr. Kenneth Forde.
He spoke to the Guyana Chronicle during a visit by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Guyana Environmental Capacity Development Project (GENCAPD) to Aranaputa last week.
Forde said the residents expect to benefit from a state-of-the-art
telecommunication system under a grant from the Government of Canada
and the officials were visiting to get agreement on arrangements for the
disbursement of the requisite funds.
Aranaputa is in a valley surrounded by the Pakaraima Mountain Range and has a population of about 550 persons, 80 per cent of whom are Amerindians of the
Makushi tribe; 18 per cent of mixed race and two per cent are Afro and Indo Guyanese.
Forde said provision of the telecommunication facility, which would include wireless Internet access, is only one of the developments which is firing up optimism amongst the villagers.
The recent establishment of a peanut processing factory and the acquisition of a timber concession from Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) are others which  will  spur growth.
The latter alone is expected to rake in approximately $25M annually for the local authority and peanut cultivation, which accounts for 80 per cent of the income derived by villagers, is central to a vigorous programme of cultivation supported by the new processing plant.

Cattle
Another project is to increase the number of cattle reared in the village to between 800 and 1,000 head but Forde said the future did not always look as bright.
The middle-aged man, a life long resident of Aranaputa, said the village  was  developed in the 1920s by the colonial administration and the first settlers were from West Coast Berbice.
Forde said his parents and grandparents drove cattle reared in the Rupununi from Aranaputa to Tacama, along Berbice River, from where the animals were shipped by boat to Rosignol, West Bank Berbice,  then to Georgetown by train.
He said the journey, to Tacama, along the cattle trail was on foot and took 13 days if undertaken in a hurry and but far longer if done at a leisurely pace.
Forde said, in all he heard from his parents and grandparents, life was very difficult.
According to him, aircraft service was introduced around 1947 and landing strips, including one at nearby Annai, were built when reowned pilot Art Williams was a household name at Aranaputa and life became a little more confortable.
Forde said with the advent of foot and mouth disease in Rupununi, followed by rabies, decimated the cattle herds and led to the closure of the cattle trail to Tacama.
Of the future, Forde said: “Apart from the developments on the Guyana/Brazil border, the crops, livestock and timber, we
also have plans for the development of tourism.”
He said they are hoping that Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) (GT&T), soon, makes good on its promise to establish a cell
phone service in North Rupununi to help accelerate the growth and development of the area.