$2B in hinterland agriculture to be invested by Gov’t

Over the past two years, advancing agricultural production in the hinterland has been high on the government’s agenda, and by the end of 2022, an injection of more than $2B will catapult the sector even further towards achieving food security.

The disclosure was made by President Irfaan Ali as he addressed the opening ceremony of the National Toshaos Council Conference on Monday. “In agriculture, by the end of this year, we will expend more than $2 billion and what is the goal in agriculture? We must work on making every single hinterland community food secure… and we have begun to make that investment to advance food production,” Ali said

President Ali pointed out that one of the many initiatives embarked on over the past two years, has been the delivery of tractors/trailers and implements to villages to boost agriculture production in hinterland areas.  As such, 112 tractors, along with ploughs and harrows were handed over to communities last year by the Amerindian Affairs Ministry, with an additional 71 procured for disbursement before the end of 2022.

The Head of State said that through the Agriculture Ministry, more tractors and trailers were also made available for disbursement. He revealed that young people in the respective communities were also trained to operate and maintain the equipment.

“We have listened to you; from the time we started the initiative of giving tractors years ago to communities with very limited budgets and resources… As soon as we came back into power, we embarked on a project to give every single community tractor, trailers,” he stressed.  President Ali noted that under the Amerindian Affairs’ presidential grant programme, and the Amerindian Investment Fund, communities received capital to embark on agriculture- related economic projects, based on the needs of the respective villages.

Ali said that some projects underway include livestock farming, and ginger, cassava, and other cash crops’ production. He noted that apart from training, tools, seeds and chemicals/acoushi ants’ bait were also provided to the villagers.

Hinterland food security plan

The President said that recognising that the hinterland possesses great potential for agricultural development, with vast fertile and arable lands, he disclosed that a hinterland food security plan must be crafted to guide the development of the sector.  “We are going to invest in research, and development to see what is best for every single community, and you have to help us here at this conference,” Ali told Amerindian leaders. He continued, “Let us identify one item that we will work with the government on. Let us identify food security and come up with a hinterland food security plan that we will invest in.”

President Ali revealed that agricultural production can be done in a sustainable manner, safeguarding the environment. He said that it must also address how the agriculture plan could feed into the school feeding programme, processing, and identifying markets.

Therefore, once discussions are completed and projects and initiatives identified, the President said the government will work with the people to establish a timeframe on the way forward. “At the end of it, we have to have buy-in from you the leaders, and from the people. We have to do it [agriculture production] in a sustainable way, we can’t just say no cut and burn, we have to work with you and say what is the appropriate technology we can use to make you food secure,” Ali said.

The Head of State also spoke about the oil and gas industry, and how resources from that sector will be used to develop the hinterland’s agriculture sector. He added that the overarching goal is to make the hinterland food secure, while at the same time boost economic empowerment and create jobs.