-Minister Valerie Adams -Yearwood encourages Guyanese to sustain healthy eating habits

ON Monday, the Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Region Four, Demerara Mahaica’s Health Service programme, launched the Guyana Re-Aligning Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health (GRAIN-H) programme.
The launch was held at the Herdmanston Lodge in Queenstown where Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, with responsibility for Rural Affairs, Hon. Valerie Adams-Yearwood delivered the keynote address.

Minister Adams-Yearwood stated that “Guyana Re-aligning Agriculture for Improved Nutrition & Health, or GRAIN-H to paraphrase that concept, is a welcome convergence of ideas to address the objectives of the agriculture and health sectors.”

The Minister encouraged Guyanese to get back to the soil and have kitchen gardens established to promote a healthy lifestyle, through the ‘GRAIN-H’ initiative, which was created in collaboration with the Regional Democratic Council, Region Four.
She explained that the initiative is established to address the goals of the Agriculture and Public Health sectors. She noted that the primary objective of ‘GRAIN-H’ programme is to ensure that Guyana has access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to promote an active and healthy lifestyle among Guyanese. The project will undergo a pilot period lasting up to December of this year.

Participants in the project will be drawn from the Geriatrics, Antenatal and NCD clinics. They will be taught to view food as their medicine both in terms of its nutritional content as well as how it is prepared and consumed to ensure that it is healthy.

They will be given guidance on improving their nutrition through the growth, preparations and consumption of healthy and wholesome foods. This will be done by providing them with the training to establish and maintain their own kitchen gardens at home.

The Ministry of Public Health, with the Technical Support of the Ministry of Agriculture, will establish demonstration Kitchen Garden Plots at all participating health centres in the project. They will allow for the demonstration of the various crops that could be grown and used to have a positive bearing on the nutritional needs of the participants.
Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Gillian Smith, endorsed the project.

“This is the kind of initiative that can help persons to think more purposefully, and make more radical and drastic changes in their consumption patterns, in the consumption patterns of their families, in the consumption patterns of our communities and the consumption patterns of our nation. By helping people to utilise more healthy foods, more locally produced, fresh foods we are helping ourselves and we are helping the nation to ensure that we maintain a productive and healthy population”
Regional Health Officer(RHO), Dr. Quincy Jones, who also gave remarks at the launch, stated that far too many Guyanese suffer from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD)as a result of unhealthy eating habits. He pointed out that the initiative will not only be beneficial to the residents of Region Four but to the entire population of Guyana.
Also in attendance at the launch were–Minister in the Ministry of the Presidency, with responsibility for Youth Affairs, Simona Broomes; Chairman of the RDC Region Four, Ms. Genevieve Allen; Supervising Medical Officer Region Four, Dr. Mark Vyfhuis; Regional Executive Office(REO), Pauline Lucas and Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Communities, Mr. Emil McGarrell.

The ‘GRAIN-H’ inititiave is in keeping with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages.