By Naomi Parris
FOR the past 11 months or so, Guyana, like other countries worldwide, has been feeling the squeeze, due largely to the many stringent measures that have had to be implemented to help slow the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Despite the glaring and debilitating adversities, the agriculture sector has managed to remain resilient through the adoption of new and innovative methods of farming. To date, the children and staff of the Mahaica Children’s Home are reaping the benefits from these methods through an Information Communication Technology (ICT) and agriculture project spearheaded by the Triple-C Consultancy Group.

According to the Founder of Triple-C Consultancy, Bissasar Chintamanie, the goal of the project is to teach the youths of Guyana the importance of agriculture, especially during the pandemic.
“This is wider than just planting and understanding agriculture. My company is also going to provide training for these young people,” he said.
Chintamanie’s company is currently looking to obtain digital materials to engage the children who are being housed at the facility to further inject ICT into agriculture.
“We are looking to have some gadgets donated so that the youths can use them and we can use that as a medium for which we train them so we will be loading up information on and we will be coming here and getting them involved in the actual thing, as well as the online thing,” he said.
As of present, many Guyanese, especially the youths, have their focus on the budding oil and gas sector; and while this may generate wealth for the country, Chintamanie noted that he does not want the youths of Guyana to become solely dependent on the sector.

“ I want to make agriculture the after oil of this country and that is what I’m trying to embark on a mission to have more young people involved, and since we are [dealing] with the COVID now, we have to find innovative ways of doing things,” he said.
He also noted that the project has been showing positive results as many of the children of the facility are now seeing the importance of agriculture and providing for themselves.
Chintamanie further added that while the initiative might appear small, it will eventually be developed into a greater mission as he will be taking the project to other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Simone Blair, Home Services Assistant Supervisor of the children’s home, said the project has been very fruitful in providing home-grown organic food for its occupants while unlocking new potential and skills for the young girls and teenagers housed at the facility.
“It’s a good motivation for the ones who are doing agriculture in Fourth and Fifth Forms and the ones who are at home who just like pulling the weeds between the vegetables when they plant them. At the same time, those who don’t have a skill have the opportunity to learn agriculture from grassroot coming up,” she said.
Blair stated that the project will also help guide those who are uncertain about their future endeavors and career paths.