Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 20, 2015 News
– Indigenous Affairs Official
Agricultural development in Guyana’s Hinterland Indigenous communities can greatly contribute to the food security of the Caribbean Region.
This is the view of Ministerial Adviser on Indigenous Affairs, Mervyn Williams. By investing in Indigenous communities’ agricultural sector, primarily in the country’s Hinterland, Williams explained that food security can find a foundation in these settlements.
“Food security in Guyana and food security in the region, that is to say CARICOM (the Caribbean Community), can find a foundation in Guyanese indigenous communities, with the right quality support; technical, financial and otherwise,” said Williams.
Most of Guyana’s Indigenous communities are located in its Hinterland region. This area of the country accounts for approximately 76 percent of the country’s landmass. Of the country’s ten Administrative Regions, the Hinterland is made up of five of those districts, which includes Regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten. Despite its vastness, the Region has remained relatively disconnected from the more densely populated Coastal areas.
Over the years, the Region has faced difficulties with relation to its agriculture despite being heavily dependent on the sector. Williams outlined instances whereby Indigenous communities’ sale of produce declined as a result of problems stemming from trade maintenance despite being agriculturally viable.
In the case of Barima-Waini (Region One), Williams shared that the area once provided thousands of ground provisions every year to the Coastland. He related that due to a number of factors, communities which used to export eddoes to the coast are now importing the very produce from farms on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway, where Indigenous people are now migrating to.
“The problem that developed was: (a) the absence of good and sufficient maintenance of farm to market routes and (b) the reduction of quality in Hinterland transport,” said the official. He posited that it was a mixture of irresponsible and inconsiderate governance which caused a decline in agriculture for indigenous communities.
To fix such a decline, William added that the Region needs to have infrastructural support to ensure a food secure environment.
He went to share an instance of sustainable food security in the Rupununi Region where communities are using locally produced peanuts to make peanut butter. This said initiative, according to Williams, is being used to support school feeding programmes in the region.
“That is the kind of project that needs to be built upon and extended to other communities across the country… And if you examine indigenous communities, you will find that they [are] self sufficient in food… If they don’t get rice, that is not a problem as cassava is their staple,” shared the Adviser.
As agriculture is “enshrined” is our country’s constitution in Article 18, William related that sustainable agricultural development is vital to the nation and as such is an aim of the Ministry moving forward.
He said that consideration should be made towards implementing a developmental bank in order to provide financial support to the region, especially as agriculture is an important part of indigenous culture.
“The whole gamut of technical support is required,” concluded Williams.
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