THIS week, the Ministry of Agriculture will release an app that gives farmers easier access to important information such as weather forecasts and tips on how to manage their soils.
Zulfikar Mustapha, the Minister of Agriculture, said this on the Starting Point podcast on Sunday, February 22. Mustapha said that people will be able to get accurate and useful information from the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI).
The app will tell you what kind of crop can grow in Blackbush Polder if you go there. The minister said, “You go to Linden, you will see different areas and what kinds of crops you should plant to get a better market for them.” Mustapha said that a data centre and situation room are almost finished and will be ready for use in March to help farmers get better production results. “We’re almost done, about 75% of the way there,” he said, “So hopefully we can hire that facility by March.” Like Guyana’s agricultural sector app, the facility will store information for the whole Caribbean, such as soil types, weather patterns, and suggested crops for different areas.
He said the idea came from President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s trip to Costa Rica, where a similar model is used at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) headquarters.
The minister also talked about plans to modernise the fishing industry by using digital platforms and upgrading infrastructure.
“Farmers in the fishing business today don’t take technology seriously. They want to do things the same way they did before, like their parents did. We want to change that idea, though.” He said, “We want to change that culture.” Mustapha said that after he became Agriculture Minister in 2020, tracking devices were bought and put on boats so they could be found more easily at sea.
The minister said, “We have more than 500 boats with these tracking devices on them, and we have a central station that can keep an eye on them.” Minister Mustapha said that his ministry has built a number of facilities for fishermen over the past three years, such as landing sites and wharves. He wants the app to have information on all landing sites by the end of March.
He also said that there would be training sessions all over the country on how to use these digital platforms.