Dear Editor,

CARICOM leaders and Ministers of Agriculture and the over hundred international delegates in attendance, in addition to the hundreds locally, praised Guyana for hosting an international agro conference last May. They all said it was an outstanding conference, one that has never been seen or experienced in Guyana or in the region in its history. CARICOM leaders were in awe and approached the Minister of Agriculture and other organisers for the model. Because Guyana’s agriculture conference last May was such a success, nation after nation held or plan to hold one modeling theirs after Guyana’s.  Trinidad held its agriculture forum last week attended by tens of thousands in the capital Port of Spain at the Savannah. President Irfaan Ali and other Caribbean leaders and Minister of Agriculture, Zulfi Mustapha were in attendance.

These agri conferences are extremely important in the era of food scarcity and rising prices. They also present to the farming community and the public a new perspective on agricultural production with machineries and equipment and need seedlings on display. They give a state of agriculture in the countries holding them. Any move to add to agricultural production must be encouraged and supported.

One of the goals in the Guyana and Trinidad conferences and other agro forums is to educate the public directly or through the media about the importance of farming and food production and to provide support for traditional and commercial farmers and even home gardeners. That was met in both conferences although both conferences would have been better suited in rural agricultural communities to attract more farmers. Farming in both countries take place in largely rural underdeveloped areas.  In Trinidad, most farming occurs in the rural south and central as opposed to the Port of Spain environs. Food comes from central and south to the north and east. Similarly, in Guyana, food comes from the interior and from the islands and Essequibo, Berbice and West Demerara. Perhaps the organisers wanted to attract urban or town folks and encourage them to take up farming. If the latter is the intention, it should be supported.

Community supported agriculture is a growing trend in many places including urban areas. In New York, for example, the City encourages local garden production and block off streets for ad hoc markets for local farmers to sell produce. Guyanese Americans are growing tonnes of produce (variety of vegetables) in their backyards or in buckets during the warm weather (May through October) for home use or to share with others; yield of Guyanese Americans is enormous, bettering productivity in Guyana they said in interviews. Community agriculture in urban or rural communities must be welcomed. It generally centres on directly marketing food products from home or at local markets. Community markets bring producers and consumers closer together and create a family or social connection; community relationships are strengthened.

Besides serving as an incentive to grow food, traditional farming and community markets give families their main or an extra income. By participating in community-sustained agriculture, you support the local farmers and you eat local food as opposed to imported products and keep money in the local economy as opposed to draining foreign exchange. Local food has quality and is safer than imported food. The more we encourage local agriculture and food production, the more we will understand the economic potential that it offers. Government should encourage locals to grow and sell more food in their local communities.

As in Guyana, the Trinidad conference included experts in organic or traditional farming and industrial food production. With depletion of soil, sustainable agriculture is very important. NAREI must engage in more research to improve crop seedlings and appropriate machineries (bio-technology) and to monitor productivity to determine success of experimental new crops. NAREI researchers would gain new perspectives in different agricultural industries. We have to keep up with science of production given that land for food production is getting scarce and we must therefore improve yield. Farmers must understand the science in relation to production. It is critical because food is becoming increasingly scarce and more expensive to grow as well as costlier to consumers. Science and technology must guide inclusive and sustainable farming. The ministry has to keep pace with changes in technology and invest appropriately. Science and technology must guide government policy. Government must therefore allocate more money into agriculture for research to guide.

Government must also pay attention to the business side of farming – marketing and losses attributed to nature and insects, animal invading their farms, and praedial larceny. Farmers took a hit over the last two years because of the pandemic, flooding, and the Ukraine War and theft of produce. Many are not planting this crop because of unpredictable rain and the huge losses recently suffered. Farmers need better infrastructure, drainage and irrigation, some kind of insurance of protection against flooding (natural calamities) to recover investments as is done in North America, and roving farm Marshalls to guard against larceny and animals eating their crops.

The government must allocate greater funding to the Agriculture Ministry which in turn must attach greater importance to irrigation, agronomy, giving grants (support) to farmers vulnerable to flooding to encourage them to continue planting, and providing protection of farms. If farmers withdraw from the land, then the country will face food shortage, higher food prices, and anger among the population.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Vishnu Bisram