Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha and Public Service Minister Sonia Parag held a community outreach with farmers of Mocha on Tuesday.
There, the majority of farmers raised concerns about the high cost of feed from retailers. The farmers related that because of the high cost, they are forced to sell chicken at a high price, making it difficult for them to compete with wholesalers.
In response to these concerns, Minister Mustapha has tasked the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) with issuing permits to these farmers- which will result in them getting a cheaper and more reliable access to feed.
But that is not the only issue that the Minister sought to address on spot. Several issues about drainage and irrigation, lack of machines to clean farming areas and lack of food processing facilities were also raised.
“The cash crop farmers, NAREI, the Head of NAREI, he will be coming back to meet with all of you. The comrade who mentioned about sand type, the extension officer of NAREI will come and advise you on what crops can go there.”
“Tomorrow at 10:00, they will come back with the housing engineer from the community to visit the site so that we can rectify that drainage problem that you all spoke about,” he noted as he received loud applause from the gathering.
In response to these concerns, Minister Mustapha has tasked the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) with issuing permits to these farmers- which will result in them getting cheaper and more reliable access to feed.
But that is not the only issue the Minister sought to address on the spot. Several issues about drainage and irrigation, lack of machines to clean farming areas, and lack of food processing facilities were also raised.
“The cash crop farmers, NAREI, the Head of NAREI, he will be coming back to meet with all of you. The comrade who mentioned about sand type, the extension officer of NAREI, will come and advise you on what crops can go there.”
“Tomorrow at 10:00, they will come back with the housing engineer from the community to visit the site so that we can rectify that drainage problem that you all spoke about,” he noted as he received loud applause from the gathering.
Concerning the overgrowth of plant life in specific areas, the Minister said the Government is willing to pay residents to clear them. In addition to this, someone will be assigned to the pump station to monitor it in a bid to prevent flooding.
According to the Minister, his Government “will immediately put things in place.” Also present at the outreach were officials from the Ministry of Housing, and Water, NAREI, and GLDA, who dealt with residents that had personal issues.
This outreach stemmed from a previous one facilitated by Public Service Minister Sonia Parag, who thanked Minister Mustapha for promptly responding to the residents’ concerns.
