– Junior Agriculture Minister urges students of GSA

AGRICULTURE remains one of the key drivers of the local economy and it is time for the younger generation to think seriously about the economic activity, said Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Valarie Patterson-Yearwood.

Instead of becoming a generic entrepreneur, she believes that young people should consider being “agripreneurs.” “Time to think seriously about agriculture, its diversities and the possibility of becoming big in agripreneurship,” said Minister Patterson-Yearwood during her remarks at a Move On Guyana Inc. entrepreneurship seminar for students of the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), on Wednesday.

She urged students to think greater and be more proactive, as they plan their future in agriculture. Students were told that there is more to agriculture than working with the government. There are opportunities to become self-employed and even employers.
“Guyana is full of resources, we have the best, unique raw materials but, it is up to us to utilise these in the most effective and efficient ways by taking different approaches…I believe our youths have potential to make all this possible…I charge you to become agripreneurs,” said Patterson-Yearwood.

Though agriculture is a profitable business, she believes that having a passion in this field is very important to becoming successful.

As the saying goes, “success comes with hard work,” and the minister believes that students are fond of doing the “hard work” in agriculture, which means going into the fields with shovels, cutlasses and a spade.

“Although that is the case, we need to recognise the diversity of agriculture and take full advantage of it…I recognised that for us to get more youths involved in agriculture we need to go full technology,” said Patterson-Yearwood.

Technology is the only way to capture the interest of young people, since many youths are evading traditional agriculture.

“It is important that we continue to pursue agriculture and be on the verge of developing new and improved technologies to better the sector,” said the minister.

Representatives of the Small Business Bureau (SBB), Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC), Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) and Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) further informed students about the technologies in agriculture and encouraged them to be entrepreneurs in the sector.

Vice-Chairman of the Agricultural and Environmental Committee for Move on Guyana Inc, Dr. Randy Domer, said the whole idea or objective of the seminar was to stimulate and promote more entrepreneurship among youths in agriculture.

“Agriculture is a big field with a lot of unchartered territory where they (students) can tap into,” said Dr. Domer.

He believes that young people like the idea of business but do not know how to properly start a business in Guyana. As such, his organisation’s objective is to enlighten students on how to acquire land, how to access grants and loans, and even the requirements to start a business.