FARMERS from across Guyana continue to benefit from the Ministry of Agriculture- sponsored Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development (RAID) programme.
On Thursday, farmers at Cane Farm in Mocha were the first to benefit from the RAID initiative for the New Year, after receiving 300 coconut plants.

Mocha Extension Officer, Mitzie Barker, told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the distribution of the planting material is among other crops requested by the farmers.
“I am extremely thankful for the coconut plants because of several reasons. One being that I wasn’t under any expense to buy plants and now I don’t have to worry about floods as before,” Delvin Thompson, one of the recipients disclosed.

Working his fields for over five years, Thompson said his farm has developed greatly and any future assistance from the government will be welcomed.

Another farmer, Cyrus Thomas, who has been planting for almost a decade, echoed Thompson’s sentiment. “All the assistance that we are receiving, we appreciate it.”
Previously, as part of the RAID programme, farmers in the village of Buxton benefitted from the distribution of planting materials. Additionally, technical support was provided to planters in the communities of Triumph on the East Coast of Demerara and Ithaca in Region Five.

Those districts received aid in the establishment and the expansion of livestock production.
The Agriculture Ministry continues to reiterate calls for interested residents to join the RAID initiative to push co-operative farming.  The Caribbean Development Fund-backed project was developed to further foster growth in Guyana’s agricultural sector.