Guyana  hosts regional climate change communication seminar
THE Ministry of Agriculture yesterday hosted a Caribbean Agro-meteorological Initiative (CAMI) stakeholder seminar in its Regent and Vlissengen Roads, boardroom to underscore the importance of communication between the hydro-meteorological service and farmers. Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, speaking at the forum, pointed out that, over the years, the Government of Guyana has been investing significant sums of money to secure a bright and productive future for farmers and has placed great emphasis on research and development, with particular focus on developing mechanisms whereby farmers can adapt to the changing and uncertain weather conditions.
In this regard, he said interventions such as the seminar facilitated steps to ensure that farmers are equipped to deal with the impact of the extreme weather and the future impact of climate change.
Ramsammy also pledged that the Ministry will continue to support the CAMI process since it is contributing to the development of the farmers and, by extension, the economy.
“No longer can we depend on traditional signs in the night to make decisions that involve large investment. Farmers will need accurate scientific information based on measured variables if food and proper investments are to be made that will assure high productivity,” Ramsammy observed.
He said undertakings like the CAMI project are in line with government’s effort to improve both farmers’ awareness and the capacity of the hydro-metereological service to provide timely and relevant information to the farmers.
Government, on its own, has introduced a number of actions to ensure that timely, reliable and accurate weather and climate information is easily accessible to farmers and, in this regard, the Hydro-Meteorological Service has benefitted from training opportunities to improve the competence of its staff.
Additionally, Minister Ramsammy pointed out that, in light of the fact that farmers will require access to information, as it relates to global as well as local weather patterns, the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) scheme will serve to enhance their decision-making.
He also underscored the importance of effective communication between the hydro- meteorological personnel and farmers, to the overall success of the country’s agriculture sector, particularly as it relates to sugar, rice and cash crops and the growing demand for food globally.
The CAMI is a project of the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, which is the Regional Training Centre for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) based in Barbados. It is being implemented in 10 CARICOM States, including Guyana, with the aim of engaging farmers and the staff of the meteorological and agriculture service and research institutions on climate and weather, so as to increase and sustain agricultural productivity at the farm level in the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, the WMO representative, Mr. Robert Stefanski acknowledged the importance of the work that CAMI is doing.
“This is where CAMI is important, as it is addressing the key issue of how we can feed people, not only in Guyana, but in the Caribbean and the world. The effective use of weather and climate information for agriculture is very important …the efforts of the hydro-meteorological services to provide information and liaise with stakeholders is quite important, he concurred.
WMO represents the weather services of the entire world and especially in Guyana the hydro service plays an important role in fostering interactions between the meteorological community and the agriculture community, he added.
Yesterday’s seminar was attended by representatives from the participating countries as well as of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI).