Agriculture, training, internet access among issues addressed during recent outreach in hinterland – Jagdeo updates media

-Agri. minister to lead outreach in June, skills training to begin soon

Residents of various communities in the hinterland were given the opportunity to voice their concerns during an outreach on Tuesday.

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, met with residents and members of the business community in Mabaruma, Port Kaituma, and Bartica during the outreach.

“The biggest problem for the agricultural sector in Region One has always been transportation, to move the goods to Georgetown,” he updated the media on Thursday during a press conference at Freedom House.

In this regard, the GS said the newly commissioned M.V Ma Lisha will play a key role in improving trade and transportation services. The Ma Lisha will cut travel time to the region in half.

“That will help to take more goods into the interior and push down the cost of living, while also helping them to bring out more stuff. We’re also trying to open up some markets directly into the Caribbean where they can ship from the North West,” he related.

Dr. Jagdeo informed that soon, systems will be put in place to boost the production of ground provisions and similar crops, as Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha is expected to lead a team to Matthew’s Ridge, Port Kaituma and Bartica in June to address this.

On the issue of training, Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, will soon lead a team to Matthew’s Ridge to commence skills training.

The GS explained, “They have some mining jobs there, people need to be trained in operating heavy equipment. The women can do this too. We don’t want it to be just a job for men; we have many places where women are becoming welders and such, so it is not gender specific.”

Connectivity was another issue raised, as many students are unable to gain access to and benefit from the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarships.

“We have to get proper bandwidth, so that those kids too, can use the GOAL programme and benefit from that. We’ve had about 300 applications in February from Bartica for the GOAL programme,” Dr Jagdeo pointed out.

Head of the GOAL programme, Jacob Opadeyi, was asked to pay a visit to the area to assist with getting these persons enrolled.