FARMERS of rice farming communities in Regions 2, 3 and 4 were provided the opportunity to interact and share their knowledge and experience when the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), in collaboration with the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (RPA), hosted a Farmers’ Exchange Programme/Field Day last Thursday in Wakenaam, Region 3. This was the first of four such exercises planned for 2012. The island was chosen for the exercise as the board has been working with a local farmer, Rodwell Ramcharran, who had taken the initiative to cultivate his five-acre rice farm, incorporating two of the Board’s research programmes: its GRDB 10 rice strain, and its six improved management practices.
Addressing the farmers, GRDB’s Extension Manager, Kuldip Ragnauth, said that the exercise was intended to “bring new, improved and relevant technologies to the farmers in order for them to increase their productivity.”
He said that the exercise was also aimed at showing the farmers the impact, results and benefits to be derived from the use of the Board’s new and improved farming technologies.
The Board has been critically and importantly developing new and improved rice strains, matching this with relevant farming practices, and introducing them to the rice farmers as a way of increasing their yield and enabling them to remain competitive on the global market.
“All that we are doing is helping you to increase your yield in order to better yourself…for too long farmers have been focusing on variety and paying less emphasis on how to manage them,” Ragnauth said.
During the exercise, the farmers toured the cultivation plot and were able to make their own assessment.
The exchange visit is part of GRDB’s organised research programme initiated to allow farmers from the various regions the opportunity to obtain the most out of their land.