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Ministry utilizing loan to purchase flash drives
Kaieteur News – The Ministry of Agriculture is utilizing part of a US$8.4 million loan to purchase flash drives and tablets.
In an Invitation for Bids (IFB) published in Saturday’s edition of Kaieteur News, the Ministry said it is looking to procure tablets with keyboards and flash drives with financing from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD).
Bids to supply the equipment will remain open until July 4, 2023.
Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha
Kaieteur News understands that the loan was approved by the agency in 2016 to finance the ‘Hinterland Environmentally Sustainable Agricultural Development Project’.
The lending institution on its website noted that the total cost of the project is pegged at US11.14 million. US$8.45 million is being funded by IFAD while the government is providing US$2.43 million in additional funds to support the initiative.
According to IFAD, the project supports the resilience of rural families and Indigenous peoples by promoting the links between economic diversification, productive transformation, environmental protection and family nutrition. It identifies products that will enable small farmers’ inclusion in markets, which, in turn, will increase local demand for services and labour and strengthen the entire rural economy.
It also seeks to improve small-scale farmers’ access to public services, knowledge and technologies through training and technical assistance in the areas of planning and natural resources management (water, soil, renewable energy, agro-diversity).
It supports local and regional councils as they plan and prioritize investments in local value chains and strengthens their resilience, enabling communities to identify economic opportunities as well as the risks resulting from climate change.
The project also aims to improve food security and nutrition through the promotion of crops, fish and forest products that can sustainably improve household diets. This involves nutrition education and behaviour change activities, including the elaboration of dietary guidelines.
The project will conclude in 2024.
This publication had reported in May last year that the Ministry of Education utilized a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to purchase some 5000 flash drives, in an effort to recover learning losses during the restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a request for bids (RFB) that was published in Kaieteur News, the Ministry said, “The Cooperative Republic of Guyana has received a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank toward the cost of ‘Support to Safety Nets for Vulnerable Populations Affected by Coronavirus in Guyana (Component 2) and it intends to apply part of this loan to payments under the contract for the procurement of 5000 flash drives for schools.”
The notice did not provide details pertaining to who would be the beneficiaries of the flash drives; neither did it explain how the procurement of such equipment would aid in the educational advancement of students or pupils.
Efforts were made by this newspaper to contact the Ministry for further details regarding the procurement of the flash drives but proved futile. Bids to supply the flash drives were later received by the National Procurement and Tender Administration ranging from $9.9 million to $27.5 million.
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