TARGETED initiatives for boosting agriculture production have been planned by community development leaders and residents of Laluni to claim the title as Guyana’s leading citrus hub.

These initiatives will be funded by the money they have received from the recent sale of the country’s carbon credits.

Community Development Chairman (CDC), Julian Mohabir, in a recent interview with this publication disclosed that several consultations and community meetings were held with the residents to establish and outline robust plans to meet the needs of the community.

Laluni, which is located just 12 miles off the Linden Soesdyke Highway, has a population of over 300 persons, many of whom are farmers.

Citrus fruits, such as cherries and oranges, are found in abundance, while they cultivate cash crops on a smaller scale. Livestock is also reared on a small scale.

“The residents of the community decided they want an excavator, we decided to purchase the excavator, and soon the excavator will be in the village,” Mohabir said.

He explained the excavator will be used to construct dams, clear lands, improve drainage and rebuild a few farm-to-market roads that were abandoned for several years.

“The excavator is to open back the old road for farmers so they can get to the market, the road was abandoned, and farmers had to fetch their load a far way to reach the vehicle and that will help them.”

The community has received over GY$24 million and some GY$19 million was set aside to purchase and service the heavy machinery.

Meanwhile, the remaining funds will repair and maintain a community canter to provide farmers with efficient transportation services for their goods.

“The main crop in the village right now is citrus, mainly cherry, Laluni produces the most cherries in the country and the roads and transportation are the main issues most farmers and residents have and this canter will really help them so they could market and sell.”

Additionally, Mohabir disclosed that the council has outlined a 10-year plan, which will focus on diversifying the community’s economy, empowering youths, promoting tourism, and advancing education.

He hopes that these plans can also be funded by carbon credits.

Farmer and former community leader, Zita Daniels, lauded Mohabir for his efforts in making representation for the community, which she believes is often forgotten.

Daniels, who still tills the soil, explained that many farmers would have faced hardships transporting their goods, from the farms to the market.

Daniels usually sells her produce to vendors in the community, who would travel along the Soesdyke highway or to the capital city, Georgetown, to find a market for the produce.

However, her farm is located in an area referred to as ‘number 4’ in the community, which she says has a really bad road.

This road is one of many that the council intends to fix with the use of the excavator.

The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), in December 2022, issued the world’s first TREES credits to Guyana.

This marked a milestone as it was the first time a country was issued carbon credits specifically designed for the voluntary and compliance carbon markets for successfully preventing forest loss and degradation — a process known as jurisdictional REDD+.

Following the completion of an independent validation and verification process and approval by the ART Board of Directors, ART issued 33.47 million TREES credits to Guyana for the five-year period from 2016 to 2020.

This paved the way for a historic agreement between Hess Corporation and the Government of Guyana, whereby the oil giants opted to purchase about one-third of all Guyana’s credits (issued and anticipated) up to 2030.

The agreement will generate a minimum of US$750 million for Guyana over the coming decade and represents a major milestone on the journey towards a vision first set out in 2007.

During a recent interview, Guyana’s Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that the country’s carbon credits have been attracting more global buyers.

Carbon credits, also known as carbon offsets, are permits or tradeable licenses that represent the removal or reduction of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere.

While the sale of the carbon credits had garnered mixed reactions with some complaints being made that the funds were inadequate, Jagdeo contended that a look into the global voluntary market showed that the country received a good deal for its lush rainforests and environmental stewardship.

He further explained the arrangement can provide far more money if credits increase in value when traded in secondary marketplaces.

A way to value the carbon trees store is by issuing forest carbon credits by independent verification organisations. Companies can purchase these tradable credits as a way of recognising that carbon stored in forests is one aspect of the solution to achieving a global climate, where one tonne of carbon dioxide has been decreased, avoided, or sequestered for every carbon credit.

Following consultations in over 200 indigenous communities, Dr. Jagdeo in February of this year announced that each community would receive between GY$10 million and G$35 million, which represents 15 per cent of the money the country received from selling its carbon credits.