$3M in data collection equipment donated to GRDB by FAO

Today the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) received several pieces of equipment and
operational manuals that will be used to improve its data collection and extension capabilities.
These pieces of equipment donated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) forms part of a project aimed at strengthening Guyana’s rice production monitoring
system. Among the , items included 30 tablets, 10 of which were handed over in April of this
year, tablet cases, a server, a backup battery, external hard drives and data entry software tools.
The equipment is valued at over GY $3M and will enable the GRDB’s extension staff to transmit
real-time data from the field to the office.
Speaking at the handing over exercise, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said that the
tablets and equipment that were donated will assist the GRDB to ensure reliable data collection.
“Agriculture is one of the most important pillars in our government’s plan for prosperity, with
rice being a major part of our strategic focus to improve the sector. As the world advances, we
too must advance. The introduction of technology into our extension services has been widely
been touted by our government because we understand the importance of introducing new
technologies to our daily operations. These tablets and equipment will help our extension officers
to have reliable data collection and help us to modernize our entire extension system. Data and
statistics are very important when making informed decisions and these tablets will help us to
increase the Board’s efficiency, data collection management and strengthen our extension
services,” Mustapha said.

FAO Country Representative, Dr. Gillian Smith said the project was aimed at strengthening the
monitoring systems for gathering and assessing production data of rice of the GRDB. “We’re
happy to collaborate with you by bringing this technical assistance in this project that we’ve
done aimed at strengthening the monitoring systems for gathering and assessing production data
of rice and also to support you and systematically analyze the opportunities that exist in the rice
value chain, particularly value-added products. Already in operation, this upgraded data
collection system facilitates real-time data collection and transmission of data from the field,
reduces the time needed to crunch the numbers, and the probability of introducing human typo
errors. It also creates faster, more accurate and comprehensive reports that support planning,
faster corrective actions and decision and policymaking. This is digitalized data management,
which can ultimately be expanded to other uses within GRDB,” Dr. Smith said.
The government, through the Agriculture Ministry, was able to use improved technology to
develop and release a new variety of rice to the market. The GRDB-16, which was released in
October 2020, has the ability to produce up to 60 bags per acre if good farming practices are
adopted. Additionally, the Board has been working with IICA on a Zinc-infused biofortified
variety of rice which is expected to be released for field trials sometime next year. This variety,
once released for large-scale cultivation, is expected to attract preferential prices given its
nutritional properties.