-Minister Persaud tells Hubu farmers
AT a highly interactive meeting with farmers of Hubu and Parika Back, East Bank Essequibo, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud
reassured farmers that Government will continue to place emphasis on agriculture and this is reflected in the 2011 Budget.
The sum of $9.1 billion has been budgeted for the sector, an increase of 22% over last year’s. The meeting which was held last Thursday afternoon at the St. Lawrence Primary School in Hubu, also saw the
participation of Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Lionel Wordsworth; Senior Civil Engineer,
Fredricks Flatts; Region Three Chairman Julius Faerber and General Manager, New Guyana Marketing Corporation, Nizam Hassan.
Minister Persaud, while emphasizing that the meeting was intended to update farmers on development plans for 2011, said
it is also important to garner feedback from the immediate beneficiaries.
“We are now in a position where we can do more for our people and if you look at our budget you would see that we are one
of the few countries in the world whereby we are able to spend more on our people and tax less,” he boasted.
This is due to prosperity and growth in the economy over the last 10-years, Minister Persaud said.
He told farmers that Region Three, particularly Hubu, is a critical player in the country’s diversification plans. “You
have crops, fruits and vegetables, aquaculture, livestock and also traditional crops – rice and sugar.”
Minister Persaud said that by the end of March, his ministry will be wrapping up a project in Parika that looks at
controls, access and rehabilitation of infrastructure at a total cost of over $470M.
Despite this, Minister Persaud told farmers that much more will be done in the Region to improve drainage and irrigation
(D&I) and indicated that the Ministry will be deploying an additional excavator to the region.
“The ministry is willing to assist farmers in doing four hours work on their private farm lands, only if they organize
themselves into farmers’ groups and approach the Ministry with a plan,” the Agriculture Minister told farmers.
He reiterated that Government this year will be investing $1.5B in its agriculture diversification programme.
“We want you, the farmers, to grow and benefit from those services, but it requires you to be organized,” Persaud urged.

As part of the move to ensure every farmer benefits from Government’s assistance equally, the Ministry is in the
process of establishing a farmers’ database that will also “be used to help track the farmers’ production rate, so if an investor
comes and says he needs five tonnes of something, the GMC will be able to track its availability”.
This, he said, will help to secure a long-term market for local produce.
He said the Government foresees Hubu as a major agro-processing zone in the next ten years.
Region Three was allocated $375.5M this year, with $255M as capital expenditure and $120.5M for current expenditure.
Regional Chairman Julius Faerber noted that the capital budget will be used for maintenance of infrastructure and
administration of the Region.
He indicated that $5.5M will be used for payment of salaries, $50M for continuation of agriculture strengthening
programmes, including the revetment of drainage structures at Sister’s Village and Enterprise, construction of a koker at Hogg
Island, raising river defence and embankment and the purchase of drainage tubes. The sum of $98.5M will be used for public works;
roads and bridges, $50M for education and $57M for Health. (GINA)