THE Timehri Research and Demonstration Facility of the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) captures, refines and disseminates appropriate technology, as it relates to new agricultural practices.
This was outlined by the Research Scientist and Head of the Climate Change and Agricultural Adaptation Unit, Mr. Bissasar Chintamanie, in a site interview with the Guyana Chronicle.
He said most people see it as the Timehri Nursery but it was refurbished and renamed last January.
“Here, we try to promote research and whatever product we develop is shown to those interested,” Chintamanie said at the location.
Apart from accommodating the Administration, the place boasts a greenhouse, a nursery, a section to where plants are moved when they are taken from it, and seed bins, in which plantlets are cultivated before being placed in the nursery.
Chintamanie said, presently, different crops are being tested and experimented with and, based on the results, stakeholders can be advised on the best approaches for their cultivation.
“From these experiments, we know what grows best in what kind of soil and will have the data on how many tomatoes, for example, can be grown successfully in a square metre of a certain soil type,” he said.
Chintamanie said NARI will also be able to advise farmers on the returns from an investment but other services offered include that from an extension office which planters can visit to secure information on crop management.
“We are also propagating all types of plants for sale to farmers and they can buy them at the extremely subsidised price of $100 each,” he disclosed.
Chintamanie mentioned that the Private Sector is also involved as their stakeholders sell crops grown and harvested at Timehri.
He said two persons at West Coast Demerara are doing so on a large scale.
Asked about challenges faced, from time to time, Chintamanie referred to the geography of the location and said some crops may not grow as well at Timehri as at the Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.
“The other thing is that we had a dry spell and we were having a shortage of water, which is the other main challenge,” he said.

SUCCESSES

However, Chintamanie maintained that Timehri is experiencing increasing successes.
He said: “We had one man from Kuru Kuru, who came and saw the operation here and wants to do something similar. We are trying to help him. Once the technology catches on across the country it will be big success for us,” Chintamanie said.
He said the Agriculture Ministry’s ‘Grow More’ campaign is being advanced, too, as plants are being made available to farmers at reasonable cost, so they can secure the economic return they expect.
Chintamanie said approximately 2,000 plants are sold weekly and response from stakeholders in the agriculture sector is growing.
He said the plants on sale include lemon, lime, tangerine, orange, soursop, cherry, papaw and guava, which have been propagated since the early 1960s when the production of cocoa was discontinued because demand decreased.
Initially established as an experimental station in the 1950s, it produced only cocoa plants for farmers, when the operations were funded by the Colonial Development and Welfare Scheme, in the United Kingdom.
It was previously under the direct purview of the Ministry of Agriculture but was handed over to NARI in 1996.