–Complements the Jagdeo Initiative
THE new US$1.35M Hydroponic and Organic Vegetable Production and Marketing project is an agricultural initiative which is seeing progress across the socio-economic spectrum, says Partners of the Americas (POA) Guyana Chapter Coordinator, Kelvin Craig.
Partners of the Americas (Guyana)Coordinator, Mr. Kelvin Craig showcases the nutrient film technique method using PVC pipes
Almost a decade after economic and agricultural setbacks brought on by the devastating floods of 2005, Guyana continues to be an innovator and shining example for the Caribbean region, according to Craig.
This new initiative, known as the Sustainable Livelihoods and Community Economic Growth through Hydroponic and Organic Vegetable Production and Marketing project, is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Japanese Trust Fund (JPO), in collaboration with the Partners of the Americas (POA), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), and Caribbean Self-Reliance International (CASRI).
ALTERNATIVE MECHANISM
Hydroponics is an alternative production mechanism for growing crops, which utilises low-cost, low-technology and environmentally-friendly methods. Craig, in highlighting the possible socio-economic benefits of the project maintains that the initiative is consistent with government policy, and complements the Jagdeo Initiative in Agriculture.
The POA Coordinator says further that the coastland and rural areas will see the improved economic welfare of vulnerable and disadvantaged men, women and youth.
Making innovative use of an old sneaker
According to him, the traditional method of soil and weather has proven itself to be unreliable considering the inevitability of climate change and drawing on the devastating experiences of the 2005 floods, but the hydroponic medium allows for human intervention to produce a product that is nutritionally superior in a shorter production period.
The use of compost made from rotting fruit and vegetable peel, cardboard wrappers and toilet paper spoils, although eyebrow-raising, has been instrumental in the process of hydroponics in providing nutrients for crops.
KITCHEN WASTE
Craig also notes that the alternative use of kitchen waste could see a 50% reduction in the garbage and waste material output per household.
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
Making home-grown pesticide
The Saint Stanislaus College Training Centre (SSTC) has been the home of the initiative from its inception and has been the operations site for a number of workshops held monthly which provide hands-on training in areas of compost production, natural pesticide production, planting in containers, the use of soilless medium, the use of plant nutrients and care and management of the organic vegetable gardens.
Similarly, the production component of the initiative includes development of hydroponic shade-houses, natural/organic farms and home-based gardens in areas with limited yard space.
According to the POA Coordinator, these training exercises are conducted free of charge. Craig maintains that these workshops facilitate the sensitisation of the populace regarding the cost-benefits of the initiative. He acknowledges that there is certainly room for human error, often resulting in an undesired outcome; but maintains that this would not be felt economically but instead would add to the learning experience.
Craig notes that there has been some reluctance in accepting an initiative which utilises unconventional methods of crop production; although the method had been developed and utilised for some 2,000 years.
The Coordinator says that there has been trials aimed at exploring other mediums for crop production, thus drawing away from the need for paddy husk, which could mostly be found along the coastland, to charcoal mostly found in Linden and coconut husk which is native to coastal areas.
BENEFICIARIES
The socio-economic development component has seen the SSTC in collaboration with the Deaf Association as well as the Phoenix Rehabilitation Centre in Mon Repos. According to Craig, the programme, in the latter case, has aided persons who have been victims of substance abuse and has curtailed the operations cost of the Centre by providing an avenue for students to learn and develop new traits.
JAGDEO INITIATIVE IN AGRICULTURE
In 2002, former President Bharrat Jagdeo put up a document proposing to a Caribbean Heads of Government Conference that the Region should build a Regional Policy and Strategy to strengthen food security and alleviate poverty.
The Jagdeo Initiative was aimed at addressing the declining role of agriculture in the Region along with a rapidly increasing extra-regional food import bill. It also identified the need for environmentally-friendly methods as well as a “strategically repositioned” Region, based on the twin pillars of “global competitiveness of agri-products and balanced development of rural areas and communities.”
By Derwayne Wills