HOME Affairs Minister Clement Rohee on Tuesday launched the Guyana Prisons Agricultural Development Board and advised members to examine the self-sufficiency aspect of the project. The minister told the gathering that the potential for  agricultural development within the prison system is in stream with two advantages: land and manpower at its disposal.
He added that the large scale development will go well with the hands it has to work the land and issues pertaining to irrigation, techniques, yield per acreage and other factors will come on stream once there are adequate labour and technical skills.
“It was with this in mind we drew up a business plan for agricultural development for the prison system, it is not that we found the bill for dietary needs budgeted by the government for the entire prison system was high, because as long as you have prisoners and the numbers keep rising you obviously have to feed them and you have to budget to feed them and that is the conventional way to go, we have to sometimes think outside the box and find creative and innovative ways of addressing this issue,” Rohee said.
He also lauded Food for the Poor for their continued contribution to the prison,and noted that  a thriving poultry project was established at the New Amsterdam Prison, adding that many others have since come forward to assist including Mr. Beni Sankar.
Rohee noted that the three major prisons in Guyana will soon be able to maintain their agricultural programmes.
He said the Guyana Prison Agricultural Development Board was launched to place more emphasis on upgrading such programmes in prisons.
“We are soon going to be launching that board in order for them to take a firm handle on the Agriculture Programme. The focus will be at Mazaruni, Lusignan and New Amsterdam because these are the three locations where agriculture production has great potentials and possibilities,” Rohee disclosed.
The agriculture programme in the past was run exclusively by the prison service, but Rohee said that a number of stakeholders have been brought in, such as Food for the Poor and other entities and he is optimistic that the programme will also significantly benefit the prisoners. “Also the aim of producing self sufficiency in food  for the prisons is an objective that will be achieved with the establishment of the development board and a full-fledged programme at these particular locations,” Rohee said.
In July of 2010 Rohee had noted that he wanted to reintroduce the once prosperous agriculture programme at Mazaruni and Lusignan. Without this initiative it costs the state approximately $19,000 per month to feed one prisoner.
On January 17, 2010 the Ministry of Agriculture and the Guyana Prison Service signed an agreement to restart  agricultural activities at the prisons which would  ensure self- sufficiency.
Deputy Director of Prisons, Malcolm Mc Andrew said that during a visit to the prisons countrywide, he recognised the potential for agricultural development and considering the large sum spent on dietary requirements for the prisoners he encouraged the prison officers to dedicate two hours of work to supervise at least four prisoners in this endeavour.
He noted that as such they aim to diminish the cost of dietary needs for prisoners and will harness the potential in the right way in which they will become self-sufficient.
Mr. Mc Andrew, who is the Chairman of the Guyana Prison Agricultural Development Board, also expressed his gratitude to all the members for their continued support.
Meanwhile, MOHA Permanent Secretary, Angela Johnson during brief remarks said that the board was established to activate the agricultural sector of the prison service and to implement the agricultural business plan for self sufficiency and commodity gains for the prisons.
She added that in the provision of dietary requirements for prisoners this year the government expended $195M while in 2010 the sum of $190M was spent.