Dear Editor,

MR HAMILTON Green’s recent letter in the media, which rightly lamented the importation of fruits which are grown abundantly in Guyana, appealed to my passion as a kitchen gardener and cane farmer and resonated with my belief that our national educational programmes must extend beyond the liberal arts and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to ‘STEAM’ by adding AGRICULTURE to the mnemonic ‘STEM’ acronym.

This makes abundant sense, having regard to the natural resources with which our country has been blessed and the potential of Guyana being the ‘bread basket’ for the Caribbean and beyond.

Any such shifts must necessarily start at the primary school level, with full support from parents. In this regard, I recall my school days at Blairmont Primary School, where I was taught Gardening, Carpentry and Book-binding in addition to the typical school subjects. I still marvel at the first big red tomato I reaped from my plot at the school garden.

I also recall with much satisfaction the benefits I experienced as a gardener while teaching at the Berbice Educational Institute in New Amsterdam and living at Lot 45 Stanleytown, where my kitchen garden produced abundant tomatoes, so much so that I was able to sell to the Wreford’s Supermarket and earn the extra cash I needed to cover the additional expenses consequent upon the birth of my first (and only!) child.

The gardening passion instilled at primary school stayed with me throughout my life, bringing me much joy and supplementing my professional earnings to this day. For example, even as the Director of HRM at DDL, I reaped enough fruits from my orchard on the East Bank of Berbice to profitably supply DDL cherries and passion fruits for their juice-making plant; and I am still a cane farmer, supplying GuySuCo with tons of sugarcane… And I do walk the fields guys, as the residents at Edinburgh, East Bank Berbice can testify!

I recount the foregoing NOT TO SHOW-OFF as some detractors might be tempted to say, but merely to support the observations made by the experienced Mr. Green: That if Guyana is to be transformed to a more buoyant, broad-based education, learning and developing economy, it must capitalize its natural resources, of which agriculture is foremost.
Regards,
NOWRANG PERSAUD