Ramsammy underscores importance of climate information to agriculture
MINISTER of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said, last Friday, that Guyana can be proud of its agricultural production capacity which has, consistently, been on the upward trajectory, in spite of unstable weather patterns. He made the pronouncement at a meeting of the Caribbean Agro-Meteorological Initiative (CAMI) Project stakeholders, hosted by the Agriculture Ministry.
Ramsammy said: “Guyana’s food production capacity has grown significantly over the past years. Rice export has increased, from about 50,000 tonnes in 1990 with export earnings of about US $17M to a production of 401,000 tonnes and export earnings of nearly US $170M in 2011, while cash crops exports have more than tripled, reaching over 11,000 tonnes last year.”
He noted, too, that, as agriculture continues to dominate the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), providing a livelihood for the majority of the population, initiatives such as CAMI will result in much more being achieved.
It is against this backdrop that he acknowledged the continued growth of agriculture cannot be sustained as there is considerable threat of regression to the perils of climate change and unpredictable weather conditions.
“Agriculture is highly sensitive to climate variability and weather extremes, such as droughts, floods and severe storms,” Ramsammy pointed out.
Underscoring the importance of the CAMI scheme towards maintaining production levels, the Agriculture Minister said it is an acknowledgment of the very significant impact of weather and climate on agriculture and that its overarching objective speaks directly to it.
He observed that it is important to increase and sustain agriculture productivity at the farm level in the Caribbean region, through improved application of weather and climate information using an integrated and coordinated approach.
“We believe that such initiatives ought to be embraced with great commitment. Indeed the overarching objectives and the actions outlined are in keeping with our vision for the agriculture sector in Guyana and CAMI is critical for the full implementation and realisation of the Jagdeo Initiative for the Caribbean,” Minister Ramsammy said.
The Agriculture Minister said that farmers need accurate and scientific information based on measured variables if good decisions and proper investments are to be made that will assure high productivity and they will have to become much more aware of the factors that will affect their productivity and seekers of information for enhanced decision-making.
“We must custom prepare the information for agriculture and we must ensure that our farmers are priority stakeholders. In this pursuit, I am conscious that the farmers themselves are convinced of the way forward for farmer-friendly weather information,” he said.
In an effort to achieve this, the Government of Guyana has also introduced a number of initiatives to ensure that timely, reliable and accurate weather and climate information is easily accessible to farmers and, in this regard, the Hydrometeorological Service has benefitted from training opportunities to improve the competence of its staff.
Additionally, Minister Ramsammy said, in light of the fact that farmers will require access to information as its relates to global as well as local weather patterns, the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) will serve to enhance their decision-making and the CAMI project will aid in improving both farmers’ awareness as well as the services provided by the Hydrometeorological Office to provide timely and relevant information.