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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, March 2, 2017
Banking on cherries
River ’s View hopeful agro-processing project will bear fruit
RESIDENTS of the Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) community of River’s View are optimistic that the cherry orchard agricultural project they have embarked upon will see the commencement of a small-scale agro-processing factory in the community. The residents, with the help of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), have planted 100 cherry trees and are watching them blossom every day. NAREI’s role in the project, which owes its genesis to President Granger’s ‘plant-a-tree’ concept, is to provide the necessary assistance to have the fruit orchard up and running. “This project was for all
the communities around the area, but to date, River’s View is the only community that came on board. The community provides the land and labour, and NAREI provides the plants along with the technical advice, staff and whatever chemical that will be needed in terms of pest management and so,” NAREI’s Crop Extension Officer Trisha Williams told this publication. Friday is the day designated for the community to work on the orchard. Work involves nurturing the seedlings and keeping them free of weed. The youths involved in the Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) also work on the orchard, in that they contribute to the practical agricultural aspect of the programme.
The cherry orchard at River’s View
FRESH CHERRY JUICE The cherries that will be reaped from the orchard were initially intended to support the community’s school-feeding programme by providing a cup of fresh cherry juice daily for children attending primary and nursery school. “Once the trees would have reached a bearing stage and we have excess, we plan to start focusing on processing,” Williams said. “We are looking at it as a way to also provide employment within the community, and in a way starting food security at some point as regards improving the nutrition of the residents,” she added. But, one of the major challenges bedevilling the project, Williams said, is
the daily battle between farmers and acoushi ants which would often devour the crops. Thanks to NAREI, however, the ants are kept in check with a regular dose of pesticide, which is provided not only to the cherry orchard project, but all the farmers who practise subsistence and small-scale farming in the community. “NAREI would provide the chemicals, in terms of spraying, and would also be there to give directions of how to use it,” Williams said, adding: “NAREI also provides training to the persons working on the orchard, in terms of how to control different pests and good agricultural practises in general.” But, according to Wil-
NAREI Crop Extension Officer, Trisha Williams
liams, acoushi ants are but the least of the farmers’ problems, as they also have to contend with wild animals that often reap their crops even before they can. And with the run-around they’re getting to acquire a firearm licence, it’s only adding to their frustration. Then there’s the age-old problem of water shortages. “We have the Essequibo River, but the farming lands are way down to the back, where there is no water source,” Williams said. “So, one of the things we would like to see eventually is intervention from the authorities to see canals and so on being accessed to the farm lands which will support irrigation and also a mode of transport.” GREAT PROMISE But in spite of the foregoing setbacks, she is optimistic that agriculture has great promise for River’s View, since there’s not just plenty of land there, but a willing labour force
as well. With the agricultural projects, the farmers are being encouraged to return to the fields, and with the introduction of farming technologies within the community, the youths can also get involved. “Farmers are also looking for funding, which is not readily available,” Williams said. “Remember, in these communities, we don’t really have transport for lands that we can actually take to financial institutions to get a loan; these are communal lands, and so there is no land title that a farmer can actually take to an organisation to say you can get a loan.” As a NAREIE extension officer for a number of years, Trisha Williams vows to continue working with the farmers and residents of her community to see the real potential of agriculture for the development of River’s View.