$30M to be expended to desilt all drains in Salem

– farmers to benefit from other agri. infrastructure

Farmers of Salem and neighbouring communities in Region Three will benefit from several agricultural infrastructure to boost food production, as $30 million will be expended to desilt all the internal drains there.

Other infrastructural works include the construction of a shed for Salem’s wharf as well as the grading and shaping of the access dam, which will commence on Thursday.

This was announced by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha during a community meeting at Salem Koker on Wednesday.

Minister Mustapha stressed that government will continue to provide the much-needed interventions and investments to bring instant relief to farmers countrywide, as the country continues on its food security trajectory.

Famers also requested for several dams to be upgraded to provide better access to their farmlands.

Importantly, a proposal to construct an all-weather farm-to-market road which will cost approximately $600 million will be placed in next year’s budget.

“The larger projects like the farm-to-market-road and the three bridges that you talked about…One bridge is costing $35 million. So, we will put those in our budget and hopefully, we can get it next year and do it for you. When we do those projects… we will have an increase of production in this area.

“Those are the things we can do immediately…the engineer will look at the bridge to see how we can reinforce it… We will work you. You have a partner in us, as we want to ensure that agriculture plays an important role…We want to make Guyana a food producing hub.”

Minister Mustapha highlighted that the 11 nurseries across the country are being upgraded.

He noted that Pouderoyen nursery will be upgraded and free planting materials will be provided to the farmers to increase food production, due to the demand for agriculture produce and products locally and in the region.

Government is executing several transformative and ground-breaking initiatives to ensure the agriculture sector is resilient and sustainable.

“So, all these things are in the pipeline for us and in another year from now, all these things will come into effect. So, with your activities to produce, what you are doing and other activities that we’re doing across the country, Guyana, once again, will become the powerhouse for agriculture and food production in the Caribbean.”

The construction of the shed will be executed soon by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA).

Approximately 2,097 bags of fertilisers were distributed in the farming community.

Director General of the Ministry, Mandanlall Ramraj, Chairman of NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth, NAREI’s CEO, Jagnarine Singh, regional officials and other staff also attended the meeting.