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The beneficiaries are twenty of the twenty-seven villages throughout the ten administrative regions, which have been chosen as pilots for the 166 communities which will eventually benefit from the funds acquired under the Guyana Redd+ Investment Fund (GRIF), acquired by the ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Development Project(UNDP).
The ADF-GRIF project seeks to develop Amerindian communities through environmentally-friendly economic activities based on the principles and thrusts of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
The first 27 projects are pilot studies, the intention being to learn from their implementation and form the basis for the full implementation of the project, a senior official at the MoAA disclosed.
The official said that the current initial phase of the project will help design an appropriate financial mechanism, and draft the full project document for the ADF-GRIF, so that the plans of the other villages/communities that have submitted project proposals will be implemented accordingly.
The villages/communities have selected economic projects that will be funded through the GRIF.
Under this project, each village or community will receive $5M to fund its project. Most of the 166 projects (69.88%) are agricultural in nature, but 9.64% of the projects are tourism related.
The rest of the projects chosen by the villages are in the manufacturing, infrastructure, services and forestry sectors.
In Region 1, projects planned include poultry rearing in Barabina; a village shop in Baramita; cash crop farming in Hobodeia and Manawarin; and fish ponds in Kamwatta and Three Brothers.
Region 2 plans to engage in cash crop farming in Bethany.
Region 3 plans to build a guest house at Santa Mission; a tourist lodge is planned for St. Cuthbert’s in Region 4; a multi-purpose centre is planned for erection at Moraikobai in Region 5; projects involving furniture making are planned for at Siparuta in Region 6; and a peanut farm is in the making for Karrau in Region 7.
Region 8 villagers plan cash crop farming at Itabac, and cattle rearing at Kamana and Kurukubaru. There will also be focus on poultry rearing at Micobie, and a tourism enterprise at Monkey Mountain.
Seven projects are slated for Region 9, including a fish pond project at Annai; cattle rearing at Bashaizon; cash crop farming at Masara, Parikwarunau, and Rupunau; large-scale cassava planting at Rupertee, and construction of a guest house at Hururu.
In Region 10, villagers of Sand Hills and Hittia plan large scale cash crop farming, to be supported by the acquisition of a tractor and trailer under the GRIF Fund.
The senior official of the MoAA disclosed also that the MoAA, the UNDP, and technical experts from the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), the Fisheries Department and Guyana Livestock Development Agency (GLDA) have visited all the project sites to ascertain their technical prerequisites and preparedness of the villagers for their implementation.
The 20 villages in which the ADF-GRIF project seeks to develop Amerindian communities through environmentally-friendly economic activities, based on the principles and thrusts of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) have received $5M each. They are at the moment at various stages of preparation and procurement of equipment they need.
The remaining seven villages for the pilot are at the moment tidying up technical details on their proposed projects, and opening bank accounts so that they can access funds through this formal mechanism.
