–Dr. Jagdeo says, touts bigger plans for regional development if re-elected

-hemp cultivation on the cards for Region Two, 10

WHILE outlining the government’s transformative vision to catapult the agricultural sector, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has announced that every region will have its own innovation hub to support agricultural development.

During a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, the General Secretary said that once the PPP/C is re-elected, every region will see implementations that blends innovation, infrastructure, and financial support to drive diversification and economic growth.

“In the next term, we made it clear that in every Region, so it’s not just production, we have to have the innovation hub. And so, every Region will have its own innovation hub, it will have its own diversification, support, technical centre. And then, so the innovation, the diversification support, So that means processing of the agricultural produce, and you’re getting the technical help for that,” he said.

Dr. Jagdeo also pointed to the development bank that the government plans to construct, which will provide zero interest loans to support those ventures.

“It’s all well thought out; well laid out. We have been talking about this for a very, very long time. The president mentioned co-invest. In this year’s budget, we have 1.2 billion for co-investing. We’re already co-investing in ventures, building factory shells and production shells for people who are going to be doing this,” he further stated.

Adding to this, he outlined other areas which will be developed. For instance, the hemp industry.

In Regions Two and Ten, plans are underway to allocate a total of 4,000 acres for hemp cultivation, with 2,000 acres designated for each region. This initiative aims to empower approximately 2,000 farmers, granting each individual access to two acres of land to grow hemp.

Earlier this week, President Dr. Irfaan Ali spoke about the Government of Guyana examining plans to strategically reimagine the mandate of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

Addressing a mammoth gathering at the 77th commemoration of the Enmore Martyrs on Monday, President Ali said the arable lands, infrastructure and knowledge base of GuySuCo could support the production of other crops like rice, corn and cassava, diversifying production to boost income.

He noted that GuySuCo’s mandate should now be reimagined to become a hub of rural economic development.

“Its land, infrastructure and knowledge base can support all crops, like rice, corn, cassava, livestock operations, agro-processing hubs, farmer training and extension services, fabrication and engineering services,” the Head of State said.

Dr. Ali believes there are exciting opportunities for crop diversification, skills diversification, and income diversification.

“Make no mistake, GuySuCo possesses the best machinists globally. The global machining industry historically recruited machinists and fabricators from GuySuCo. We have to leverage this human capital and human potential

“We don’t only want the sugar workers to rely on their income from sugar; we want to convert acreage of land into high-yielding production, high-value production… Production that is owned by the workers; lands that are cultivated, and revenues that are generated but generated to support the income diversification of the workers,” he added.