Women working together in Smith Creek

IN Smith Creek, Region One (Barima-Waini), Evadney Wells is doing a remarkable job managing the Wiri Wiri Pepper Project, which is very empowering to the 27 Warrau women who have persisted over the years despite challenges from crabs, crickets, and caterpillars who love their pepper plants as much as they do.

She and other women in the group, including married women and single mothers, are gainfully employed as farmers in the wiri wiri pepper project in Smith Creek, which produces pepper flakes and spices. The women have named their group, “Towatuma”, a Warrau word meaning ‘women coming together’.

Wells told the Pepperpot Magazine that during the year since the establishment of the wiri wiri pepper farm, they have harvested 24 crops so far, and will be able to do even better with installing a drip irrigation system soon.

She disclosed that the initiatie has allowed for 27 pepper beds, and provided permanent farming jobs for 27 Indigenous women whose lives have been significantly improved.

Wells related that the wiri wiri peppers are dehydrated and flaked at their processing plant in Smith Creek and shipped to the city for the final process to be completed before it is marketed.
It is sold at expos and wholesaled to buyers nationwide based on orders.

She explained that the drip irrigation system will soon be installed to ease the backbreaking work of manually watering the plants. This project was established in September 2022, and made possible by several public and private organisations, including Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), IDB Lab, Van Oord, the National Agricultural and Research Extension Institute (NAREI), and the Region 1 Regional Democratic Council. Wells stated that the peppers are harvested manually, and then processed into pepper flakes using renewable energy supplied by the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA).

She is originally from Red Hill, a far-flung Amerindian village in Region One. She relocated to Smith Creek four years after marriage, and is still adjusting to a different way of life there.

“I had to re-start my life because everything was somewhat different from where I am from, and there were no real jobs. So I became a Community Service Officer (CSO), and that enabled me to meet people and equip myself with life skills to earn,” she said.

Wells added that she was one of 10 CSOs in Smith Creek village, and when the idea of the pepper farm was realised, she was happy to become the manager, thus gaining permanent employment. She is the mother of a six-year-old child, and being a farmer, she can contribute to the home as a parent.

“I am very happy to be employed to have my own farm, and I get paid, based on the amount of wiri wiri peppers I harvest, and it is a stable income to my family,” she reasoned.

Wells reported that the nearest village to theirs is Morawhanna, and being a remote community, gaining a living as a self-employed person is not always possible, considering the lack of resources and opportunities.

She told the Pepperpot Magazine that she also has a part-time job as a caterer, and would prepare meals for visitors at the Imbotero Research Centre, her former job, and she re-joined the female drone unit in January this year. Wells is also the founding member of the Barima-Mora Passage female drone unit.