Minister Persaud encourages Buxton farmers to resume commercial scale cultivation
- during follow-up visit to community

The Ministry of Agriculture continues its financial support to farmers, to ensure that they remain productive, as Guyana’s main priority remains the availability and sustainability of food security.
           On Thursday, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud and Chief Executive Officer, National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth visited Buxton backlands to access the works currently in progress to clear the area for further land cultivation.
The area, has over the years, been receiving much attention from Government, which has been helping farmers through the distribution of planting materials, equipment, and chemicals; while other forms of support such as the provision of livestock (genetic) have also given.
Minister Persaud said that the follow-up visit was to assist farmers to make use of the lands for cultivation which will in term benefit the community and the country as a whole.


Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud interacts with contractors during the rehabilitation of the canal at Buxton backland

            “We have seen some progress, but I must say that we need to see many more farmers getting involved and tapping into the support we have been giving. We just purchased a new tractor which we will not only be used in this community; but others as well,” he said.
            As the Ministry of Agriculture continues to place emphasis on the diversification of the non-traditional sector to stimulate export and increase earnings for rural farming communities, similar exercises are being conducted along the East Coast backlands including Enterprise, Victoria and Bee Hive.
            At Buxton, a farmers’ field school has been established by the Agriculture Ministry, to have farmers exposed to new techniques and technologies.
            According to the subject Minister, over the last two years, approximately $100M has been expended by Government, to get cane farmers specifically, to be more productive. Cultivation will be aided with the construction of a $125M sluice.
            “We will be building a sluice which will take a lot of water that has been accumulating, since for decades that has been a problem. But the area is much more productive than the last time I visited,” the Minister noted.
            Minister Persaud pointed out that the Government is making huge investments and therefore he would like to see an improved scale of farming; since it is the way to go.
            While referring to the $125M sluice which will be constructed to adequately facilitate the area’s drainage system, he said that the initiative is a continuation of the farmers’ support programme in the village; clearing major canals which have not be cleared for decades.
            This year alone the Ministry will be spending close to $50M to commence earthen works in several areas.

Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud interacts with contractors during the rehabilitation of the canal at Buxton backland

            “We have about five projects that are ongoing within this area and this is just one of those. This canal will allow the back water to come down to support cane and crop farmers all the way down to the pump basin. This will be done in the other sections too where we will be doing similar works with the hope that this will bring the areas under productive use,” Minister Persaud added.
            Due to the now renewed interest of farmers to resume cultivation; Minister Persaud asserted that, the Government will continue to give its support and already there are canal clearing works being undertaken.
The Ministry is not only providing drainage support but also technical support such as inputs and ploughing of the lands. Farmers are only required to farm.          
“ We hope that this type of commitment that we have demonstrated which started in 2007, will be of great assistance to residents and farmers of Buxton and its surrounding communities; enabling them to become more food secure.”
 The Ministry is also encouraging farmers’ group to also see themselves not just as farmers, but as businesses; since the potential, not only lies in cash crop but also the rearing of livestock.
While the Ministry has donated a number of breeding animals through its sub-agency the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), vets were also made available to assist the farmers with proper husbandry.


Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud (flanked) by farmers and technical officials from the Ministry during visit to Buxton backland

It is anticipated that a cottage industry will be established within the area to facilitate processing.
While giving an overview of the drainage project, NDIA’s, CEO, Lionel Wordsworth said that the works form part of a wider drainage and irrigation network for the entire East Coast communities.
“This will facilitate the community, since in the past it experienced a lot of uncontrollable flows of backland water during the rainy reason. But what you are seeing now is the rehabilitation of the main drainage and irrigation canals.”
Within the process, approximately 40 miles of canal will be rehabilitated along the Buxton/Friendship areas, while works to the Crown Dam from Lusignan to Ann’s Grove, Green Field and Moca Arcadia on the East Bank of Demerara have been completed.
Similar works are ongoing in Sarah Johanna and Craig, on the East Bank of Demerara.
For 2010, over $49M has been spent on D&I works in the Buxton/Friendship areas. These include;- rehabilitation of Buxton Middle Walk sideline- 45 percent completed, rehabilitation of Buxton east sideline- 40 percent, rehabilitation of Buxton west sideline- 85 percent construction of Timber Bridge at Buxton company across the CNC Canal, rehabilitation of Friendship Canal, Pond Dam to Crown Dam- 5 percent, rehabilitation of Friendship East sideline- 5 percent and emergency revetment works at Buxton Pump Basin.  

Only way to preserve forest is to address alternative use, tackle drivers of deforestation -President Jagdeo during panel discussion on investing in world’s forests

The singular way to preserve forest in the long -term is to address its alternative use and tackle the drivers of deforestation, which means that alternative use has to be outcompeted, Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo told a panel discussion today, hence Guyana’s move to recreate a model around it.
President Jagdeo, in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly Meeting was one of five participants discussing, ‘Investing in the world’s forests’, hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a premier gathering for heads of state, business leaders, and nonprofit directors from around the world. The CGI 2010 meeting took place from September 21-23.


President Bharrat Jagdeo , one of five participants on a panel discussing :Investing in the world’s forests , at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, New York , September 23 .

The panel was moderated John Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress and the other participants were: Wangari Maathai, Founder and Chair, The Green Belt Movement Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Minister and Head, Presidential Unit for Development, Monitoring and Evaluation, Government of Indonesia, Jakarta; Jonathan Pershing, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change, U.S. Department of State; and Kevin Rudd, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australia.
“Some years ago we said that we are prepared to put our entire forest in long-term protection if the right incentives could be found, so what we did was to get McKinsey & Company to come in and work with us to put a value to the forest, if we converted the lands to alternative use how much money could we raise every year, and we said if the world were to compensate Guyana at somewhere around that level then we can out compete alternative use for forest and that is the only way we would save forest in the long- term,” President Jagdeo stated.



In responding to moderator Podesta’s question on what are some of the pressures Guyana faces to tear the forest down and to use it for agricultural purposes and how has the Head of State been able to sustain the political momentum to stay on track for what he wants to do, President Jagdeo responded:
“We have many companies that want to come into Guyana and cut the trees down, they would love to have leases but we have to say no to them .There are many people who for subsistence reasons want to cut the trees down; there are those pressures but what has happened? Copenhagen was a disappointment because of the low and less than ambitious targets agreed and there is no offset market for forest Carbon, it is impossible to do and now everyone is saying oh we have a financial crisis so we don’t have public money so if you have limited public money and you cannot get the money from the market so how are we going to generate enough money to out compete the alternative sources?”
He explained that Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which has seen over 300 consultations, had the indigenous people integrally involved, and the multi stakeholder committee which he chairs meets every week. Additionally Guyana’s Parliament has accepted the LCDS.
However, he questioned whether the international community is ready to keep its part of the bargain and went on to explain that, “it’s mathematically impossible to achieve a two degree target without including forest as part of an abatement solution. The economics is clear, Lord Stern and so many others have done this work; it’s the most cost effective solution, so if we cannot fund the most cost effective, the cheapest of abatement, so how are we going to fund the other abatement solutions? Everyone agreed that this is a low hanging fruit, to define, to deploy renewable energy, or retrofit building or to come up with vehicle emission standard which are all part of the solution years down the line so this could happen now yet we don’t have the resources and somehow in the developed world there is a feeling that only developed countries have political capital to squander,” he noted.
The panelists addressed the role that forests play in sequestering carbon, and the work that needs to be done to empower local populations to earn a living from forests while protecting them at the same time.