WE once again write to clarify distortions made in the article captioned “$89M Parika packhouse leased out to Caribbean investor” published on August 28 in the Sunday Stabroek. The writer of the article was well informed that only a part of the Parika Agro-Packaging facility was leased to a Caribbean investor who was effecting modifications to the estimated cost of $4.6M. It was made specifically clear that this was not the same investor as the one that was involved in a large-scale integrated farm project.
The writer of the article is mischievous by wanting to create the impression that the entire facility has been leased and by stating that “it is not clear if the Parika facility will be available to other exporters”; this is far from the fact. The fact is that a small part of the facility has been leased to a Caribbean investor who will be producing ‘cassava logs’ as well as peeling and drying cassava into chips before converting into cassava flour. Farmers and exporters still have full access to the facility for the preparation of fresh produce for export. The leasing of part of the facility does not affect any of the regular operations. This was made very clear to the writer when he sought additional information from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Further, the leasing of part of the facility will bring greater opportunities to rural riverain farmers in Regions 2 and 3 and fits clearly into the grow more food campaign. In fact, the investor has met with many farmers in the area who welcomed this type of investment at the facility and in the Parika area.
Editor, we trust the writer of this article will desist from distorting or twisting facts into fiction when he/she writes and resolve to publish articles that are factual and of interest to the public