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Baksh said the modernised institution will be erected on the present seven-acre plot, so students can complete their studies, both theoretical and practical, without having to go to the Mon Repos School of Agriculture in Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica).
The minister told the students that government is creating opportunities for them to study agriculture and they must make full use of them.
He challenged the students to move on to the University of Guyana (UG) after completing their two- year training in agriculture and one year in forestry.
Baksh observed that the opportunity now for studying is great because of the massive investment government is making in training facilities, so young people can be trained and help develop the country.
The minister pointed out, to the 51 students, that some 80 percent of the rich, fertile agricultural land in the country is not touched as yet and called on local entrepreneurs to invest in agriculture.
COTTAGE INDUSTRIES
Baksh also encouraged entrepreneurs to establish small cottage industries and produce value-added products for the export market.
Guyana’s raw products are exported to other countries which refine and make them into value-added merchandise that are imported back into the country, he explained.
Citing bamboo, which is grown prolifically across the country, as abundant raw material for craft production, Baksh urged the students to create an experimental area to bottle fresh fruits and vegetables for export.
He also inspected several cultivated plots in the compound of the school at Cotton Field.
Baksh was Chairman of Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) for several years when the Agriculture School and the Technical Institute were opened on the Essequibo Coast.
