Land to be put into use by week-end
DIRECTOR of the Faith Harding Quick Impact Programme (QIP), Dr. Faith Harding, yesterday paid a visit to community groups along the Corentyne Coast in Region 6, as she pursued her organisation’s work that involves young people and senior citizens. Yesterday’s visit saw Dr. Harding visiting the Corriverton Livestock and Farmers Association where she was invited to kick-start programmes for the target groups.
During a meeting with residents there, she spoke with executive members of the association that will be spearheading the operations there.
They communicated their inability to meet regularly to stimulate the interest of some of the young people in the area to come onboard. Dr Harding advised them on how to go about addressing that issue and was given the assurance by the group that the advice will be explored.
Yesterday Dr. Harding visited a plot of land the association will be using to rear poultry and pigs.
The QIP has already secured the assurance from several company executives who have indicated their willingness to work with the community on the projects. The QIP team is expected to meet with several of those executives later today.
The group in Corriverton also indicated to Dr. Harding their willingness to get involved in Information Technology programmes. They admitted that many in the community are not computer “savvy”. The QIP team is hoping to engage the business community in the Corriverton area in providing support and resources for the group’s activities in this area.
Yesterday Dr. Harding also paid a visit to another community group along the Corentyne Coast, this time at Alness. There she met with several persons who had contacted her organisation for support in getting economic activities started in the area to ensure the employment of young people, seniors and school drop-outs.
She was showed a plot of land that stretches for 114 acres, where no economic or revenue generating activities are conducted. The land owner, Michael Caldeira, explained that the land was left to him by his parents who passed away. He said that he has been struggling to find ways and means of putting the land into use that will ultimately serve his community. He stressed that securing the capital has been his biggest bugbear.
The career farmer is of the view that the QIP programme is the ideal venture for him to get involved with, as it provides relevant opportunities. Caldeira plans to have the dormant land transferred into a diverse economic hot spot, where several agricultural activities will take place.
He listed fish ponds, cash crops, poultry and cattle rearing, and even sorrel, as some of the activities he is thinking about. Asked about the viability of the land for the planting of sorrel, he explained that the inner parts of the 114 acreage of land consist mostly of sand, which is ideal for sorrel cultivation.
This coming weekend he is expected to meet with officials of the Agriculture Ministry who are poised to give him some form of assistance in making the land a revenue earner. The man added that he has already communicated with several young people interested in agriculture about making use of the land upon their completion of their schooling later this year.
He said that the land is not new to farming activities, as he and his father ploughed the land some time back. Yesterday both of the groups assured Dr. Harding that they will be working closely with her programme as it address the needs of their respective communities directly.
This coming Sunday she is expected to revisit the area.
According to Dr. Harding, this weekend’s visit is mainly an activity driven one where she will be turning the sod for the farming and poultry farm in Corriverton. She added that there will also be the erecting of a perimeter fence around the plot for the farm.
In March, the Faith Harding Quick Impact Programme launched a children vegetable garden in Albion, where several persons, most of them from a church in the area, were able to benefit. The QIP distributed garden tools and other much needed resources to the residents of the community.
The most recent project was the establishment of a sorrel project at long Creek on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway. Sometime this week that group is expected to transfer the germinated seeds to the nursery.
Dr. Harding explained to the Guyana Chronicle that while she will be behind the various groups to get the programmes off the ground, it is the groups themselves who will be managing their day to day activities, while she continues to provide needed resources.