MINISTER of Agriculture Robert Persaud and contractors signed eight contracts with a total value of $567.7M for projects which will support government’s efforts of transforming and modernising the wider agricultural sector and maintaining food security. The contracts that were signed yesterday in the Ministry of Agriculture’s boardroom are as follows:

(1)  Rehabilitation of Cane Grove Diesel Pump Station by General Engineering Supplies and Services ($53.6M)

(2)  Supplementary drainage works for East Black Bush Polder  -construction of sea sluice cum pump station by Horizon Electrical Associates and General Construction Company ( $349.8M),

(3)  Construction of access road to Rice Seed Facility at No. 56 Village, Corentyne by Colin Talbot Contracting Services ($38.4M)

(4)   Construction of quarantine post at St. Ignatius by Alvin Chowramootoo Construction Services ($7.1M)

(5) Construction of quarantine post at Mabura by Kurt Cumberbatch ($6.7M)

(6) Consultancy services for the training and hands on for a Gas Chromatograph coupled with Mass Spectrometry and Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry by Western Scientific Company Ltd (T&T) ( $2.8M),

(7)  Supply, delivery and installation and testing of laboratory equipment, reagents and chemicals for NAREI (Biological and Tissue Culture Laboratories) and Government Analyst- Food and Drugs Department by Western Scientific Company Ltd ($58.7M), and

(8)  Supply, delivery and installation of laboratory equipment NAREI Seed, Germplasm, plant diagnostic and Soil Chemistry/Microbiology Laboratories by IPA Health Care ($50.3M).

The projects are funded by the Government of Guyana with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Minister Persaud in his remarks said, “Because we are living in a changing agricultural environment, globally and nationally, we are currently embarked on a number of projects, one such is a US$21M investment for diversifying agriculture in Guyana…we want to create other rice and other sugar, and we are also looking at fruits and vegetables, livestock and aquaculture as key sub-sectors which we think can develop and grow eventually. That is why, for the first time in our history, there is a dedicated project. These deliverables amongst other projects are intended to accelerate that process,” Minister Persaud said.
The supply of laboratory equipment at the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) will boost the institute’s capability of providing the latest scientific support to the agricultural sector in both livestock and crop farming.
“The second aspect of these projects addresses the weaknesses we have had in terms of drainage and irrigation as well as access, with the reality of climate change. We have to take what we consider[a] climate-smart approach to agriculture,” he said.
At Cane Grove, even though the ministry has rehabilitated the station, its engineers have noticed that if the design is not changed, when the Mahaica creek is flooded it would not be able to drain the area, Minister Persaud said.
“It is looking at what we can do to better improve the infrastructure and the support. An independent channel that will drain water directly into the sea for the East Black Bush Polder area is further addressed, as this will correct an inadequacy in the scheme, so that the full area can be utilized with farmers being less susceptible to flooding,” the Agriculture Minister said.