-items include mangrove honey, beeswax candles
THE Mangrove Reserve Women’s Agriculture Producers (MRWAP) group will host its first-ever ‘Farmers Market’ today under the trees on the grounds of their base of operations at the Mangrove Visitor Centre at Cove and John, East Coast Demerara. The event is part of the alternative livelihoods’ component of the Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project (GMRP) funded by the Government of Guyana and the European Union, and is being sponsored by telecommunications giant, DIGICEL.
Chairperson of the GMRP, Mrs Annette Arjoon-Martins, said the sale under the trees is the GMRP’s final activity for Agriculture Month 2011.
The women will be selling a variety of local produce, including mangrove honey, known for its golden colour and distinctive taste;  handmade beeswax candles; mango, tamarind and sourie(bilimby)achar; tamarind balls; lime pepper sauce; green seasoning; cassava bread; and coconut quiches.
Visitors can also enjoy a hearty breakfast, comprising  such items as saltfish-and-bake and saltfish quiches at tables and chairs arranged under the towering mango trees on the premises, and can indulge in a variety of fresh fruit juices, such as soursop, pineapple, sugarcane; and there will also be water coconuts on sale.
The event will be staged from 10am to 3pm, with live music provided by the Buxton Pride steelband.
Patrons can also browse the area under the Estate House where the mangrove information displays have been erected, and presentations on the mangrove project will be featured every half-hour.
Educational games for children are also part of the programme, Arjoon-Martins disclosed.
After approximately 20 minutes’ drive from Georgetown, the Mangrove Visitor Centre is on the left-hand side going east (north). A banner advertising the event will be visible on the towering tree in front of the gate at the entrance to the property.
Admission is free, and there is ample parking space within the three-acre compound.