Bank loans, access to cheaper chickens for poultry farmers

- President Ali announces; says government committed to cushioning effects of ‘bird flu’, other industry challenges

By Naomi Parris

SMALL-SCALE poultry farmers across Guyana will now have easy access to bank loans following interventions by the government to offset massive losses that were reported by farmers due to a recent outbreak of avian influenza, commonly known as ‘bird flu.’

President, Dr. Irfaan Ali on Friday led discussions at a symposium held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) where he told farmers that an agreement was made with Demerara Bank Limited to provide loans for farmers at an affordable interest rate.

Farmers who wish to access loans amounting to $500,000 or less, can do so at an interest rate of 3.5 per cent.

Loans $500,000 - $1 million can be accessed at a four per cent interest rate and loans between $1 million and $5 million are being offered at a 5.5 per cent interest rate.

In December 2022, the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) had reported an outbreak of Avian influenza commonly known as ‘bird flu,’ following reports of chickens being smuggled into the country.

‘Bird flu’ is a respiratory disease of birds caused by influenza A viruses.

Wild birds, such as ducks, gulls, and shorebirds can carry and spread these viruses but may show no signs of illness. However, avian influenza can kill domestic poultry such as chickens.

The GLDA subsequently issued a notice that Guyana will no longer allow the importation of poultry or poultry products due to “sanitary and other conditions.”

“I was able to complete negotiations with Demerara Bank, because one of the issues farmers raised with me was the whole issue of some low-cost financing to get back into production,” President Ali told the farmers.

In addition to this, farmers will be able to purchase healthier chickens from the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (NGMC) at a cheaper cost.

He also noted that the government will provide free vaccines to small and medi- um-scale poultry farmers to help prevent the wider spread of the deadly poultry virus. These interventions were crafted to help farmers get back into production.

Meanwhile, as Guyana looks to achieve food security, President Ali told farmers that government will examine the sector’s value chain to increase its production and maintain its sustainability.

To achieve this, the government will examine the

Community (CARICOM) member states.

“If we can form ourselves in a consortium here -- we are the closest to Suriname -- the area that they have identified is very close to Guyana.

Let’s form ourselves into a consortium and go after the 75,000 acres of land also for the production of grains but, in this case, we’ll be producing that grain for the regional market,” he said.

Additionally, the govern- capacity we can buy in the long term,” he said.

The aim is to have the industry increase its chicken production for stockpiles and the production of sausages and nuggets.

To see these initiatives to fruition, a project implementation unit, will be established to support the rollout of the poultry master plan.

President Ali indicated that technical experts from the International Institute for

AS the Ministry of Education continues to work to ensure that every child has the necessary resources to facilitate learning, the improved performance in Mathematics and Science at this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) has not gone unnoticed.

At a ceremony held on Friday to announce this year’s results, Senior Manager of the Examinations Administration and Security, Teddy Rajan spoke about the remarkable improvements in the various subject areas. Addressing the performance in Science, Rajan said that an upward trend is noted for 2023, and in this subject, just over 55 per cent of the pupils earned 50 per cent or more.

“The performance of 2023 must be applauded, as a mapping of zero score and full score has been reversed in a very significant way in 2023; 2023 represents the first year in a four-year pe- riod where more candidates attained full marks compared to zero score marks in Science,” he said.

Regarding the ‘positive’ trend in Mathematics, he said that the results has shown opening of 25,000 acres of land to cultivate rice as an input for the industry.

The President proposed that Guyana form a consortium with neighbouring Suriname, which has committed 75,000 acres of land for the cultivation of grains for Caribbean ment will look to increase its storage capacity.

“That will help us in forward planning. When there is drought in the market, the poultry association can say this is an opportunity for us to forward buy for the next 12 months…if we have the a significant improvement in candidates obtaining full marks.

Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), will make up the unit.

Over the next week, consultations with poultry farmers are expected to continue.

“Performance in Mathematics aligned better to 2020 in 2023, showing significant improvements over 2022,” Rajan stated, while disclosing that the reliability for the Mathematics exam was 0.91.

In English, he revealed that the percentage of candidates who got 50 per cent and above is still above 60 per cent, and this trend has been seen within the last four years.

“In 2023, there was a 64.47 per cent attainment. The reliability of English was established at 0.71,” he pointed out.

He then went on to say: “Looking at the trend of candidates obtaining zero remains relatively flat over the last four years.”

On another note, Rajan commented that there was an overwhelming increase over 2022 with regard to students who obtained 100 per cent.

Turning the focus to Social Studies, he remarked that the overall performance at NGSA for this subject remains consistently over 50 per cent.

“Year on year, candidates earning 50 per cent or more remain consistently over 50 per cent of the performance; we see a decline of 0.3 per cent for 2023 over 2022,” he related.

It was also said that the reliability for social studies was 0.97.

Furthermore, the females’ performance when compared to 2022, has been corrected, and in fact, 17 candidates have been able to achieve full marks.

“As in English, the girls continue to outperform the boys year on year in Social Studies,” he said, adding:

“More groups show an upwards trend in 2023 over 2022, which is encouraging.”

He labelled the remarkable performance by this year’s students as “historical.”

A slightly higher number of males compared to females wrote the assessment this year. The highest number of entries came from Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and Georgetown.