MINISTER of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, has assured the Toshoa of Tapakuma, Ms. Doreen Jacobis that his ministry will help her community, in marketing and other technical areas, so as to return the cassava factory there to full production.

He gave the undertaking when, accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Vice-Chairman of Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam), Mr.Vishnu Samaroo, he visited the village on Monday and inspected the manufacturing facility which is currently not operating.
Jacobis, who explained the operations to the ministerial group, said the project almost came to a standstill because of several problems, among them marketing and poor production from the fields.
Ramsammy told her that the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (NGMC) would assist to market the produce while the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and his ministry would render technical advice on processing.
The minister also said the NGMC and IICA would lend assistance for the factory to develop a business plan with a projection for the next five years.
He told the Toshoa that whatever financial aid is given to get the factory operating, again, will have to be repaid from its profit margin.

SOME FINANCES
According to the Minister of Agriculture, all the technical help will be free. He also gave the assurance that his ministry would contribute some finances toward resuscitating the cassava industry, but the village would have to make an input, in terms of providing support in other ways.
Ramsammy also gave the undertaking that the loaned money which is paid back will go towards another venture in the community or to a similar one in a different area.
He advised the Toshoa to sit with the technical officers and work out a scheme for the resuscitation of the factory and look at the amount of land available for cultivation and how to increase production with the same area of land.
Ramsammy said the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) will show farmers techniques on how to increase production and improve soil fertility.
The overall approach is to look to agricultural processing and not just at Tapakuma, but to transform the cassava industry across the country.
Jacobis said the factory produces cassava bread, garlic- flavoured biscuits, casareep and starch and creates employment for several persons in the village.
She said the factory is managed by the Village Council and one cultivated acre in the forest produces just 2,000 pounds of cassava which is not productive.
Jacobis requested the minister to provide better sticks so production could be improved, noting that the Village Council has installed a solar dryer to enhance the method of drying cassava, especially in adverse weather conditions.
She said the factory is also expecting some help from abroad to increase its operations.