Agriculture

Five months after Rafael Downes was fired from the post Regional Executive Officer for Region 8 (Potaro-Siparuni), the new top accounting officer in that interior region said the region’s project implementation has grown from 17 percent to 51 percent. In a recent interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI,) Regional Executive Officer (REO), Gavin Gunga explained that when he ...

  Guyana’s Ministry of Agriculture has launched a value-added agricultural programme aimed at diversifying agriculture and other economic activities in the hinterland. The Ministry of Agriculture’s focus for Agriculture month 2017 is ‘Food Security and Hinterland Development: A National Priority’, however, this message will be promoted by the government throughout incoming years to emphasise the need for diversification of local ...

Guyanese  are expected to receive more accurate, timely weather reports from the Hydro-meteorological Services Department of the Ministry of Agriculture as it has now been boosted with 21 Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs) to enhance its existing framework. These weather stations, together with site preparation and installation costs totaling US$257,000 were donated under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ...

by Adelle Roopchand Agriculture is often perceived as a risky sector for investors and banks are generally reluctant to lend to farmers due to their lack of understanding of the sector and associating it with high risk. However, in recent years various types of innovative financial instruments are being introduced by governments, donors, impact investors and others to make finance ...

  Guyanese farmers may soon be able to make better decisions if all goes well with a Participatory Integrated Climate Services of Agriculture (PICSA). A workshop is currently being facilitated by the Ministry of Agriculture’s Hydro-meteorological Department, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Programme for Building Regional Climate Capacity in the Caribbean Programme (BRCCC Programme). The Ministry ...

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan on Sunday said government would be prepared to offer concessions and tax holidays to private sector investors in value-added agricultural production, even as his ministerial colleague lamented that Lindeners have failed to take advantage of multi-million dollar opportunities to improve their livelihoods through the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP). “Government doesn’t want to get into economic ...

The way in which small businesses, including farmers, can easier draw down funding from the government-run Small Business Bureau is to be overhauled because Norway’s financing is beset by cumbersome conditions, says Minister of State Joseph Harmon. Speaking with residents at Wales-Patentia at a recent outreach to meet with sugar industry workers and residents, he said President David Granger has ...

A meeting between top government ministers and Wales Sugar Estate workers on Friday erupted into a raucous session, despite repeated assurances that their main demands for severance pay would be addressed by government. “We are not here to simply make things written in stone. We are going to take all of that… and we are going to take it to ...

Guyana has tapped into a US$8 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to help reduce prison overcrowding and speed up the delivery of justice, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. “It is anticipated that through this project, there will be a significant reduction of high concentrations of prison population in Guyana,” the Finance Ministry said in referring ...

GUYSUCO’s top officials came before the National Assembly’s Economic Services Committee (ESC) where the state-owned sugar company’s chief executive, Errol Hanoman, painted a gloom image of diversification using sugar cane, once cane production remains high and once the company’s structure continues as present. Hanoman said such measures would be uncompetitive. He added if the company were to invest in converting ...