Several Amerindian communities are accelerating moves to maximise the lucrative opportunities offered at the just concluded Regional Agriculture Investment Forum held in Guyana over two days from June 6 last, at the International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.The Tri-Lake Amerindian communities of Capoey, Mainstay/Whyaka and Tapacuma/St Denny, in collaboration with the Inter American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), have commenced a two-week intensive training programme aimed at exploring and enhancing the agro tourism potential of these communities.Traditionally involved in subsistence farming of predominantly pineapples and cassava, the Tri-Lake communities will be further empowered to expand their entrepreneurial skills while harnessing the full potential of their environment in a sustainable manner.The Tri-Lake communities collectively have immense potential for organic pineapple production, cassava production, craft making, culinary arts and the development of a heritage trail, the latter seen as an excellent way of preserving the heritage of the Amerindian communities.Speaking at the opening ceremony held at the Mainstay Resort last weekend, IICA Representative to Guyana, Ignatius Jean, noted that this initiative to support the expansion of income-generating activities in the Tri-Lake communities is funded to the value of US$95,000 by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a non-profit foundation aimed at supporting the development of rural communities.“This component of the project is as a result of an extension of an initial Kellogg Foundation Fund project aimed at enhancing rural development.”In challenging the representatives from the various communities to develop the agro tourism programme as a model venture, he praised the women of Tri-Lake communities, especially the Mainstay/Whyaka Women’s Development Group headed by Captain Yvonne Pearson, for the sterling contribution towards the operations of the Mainstay Organic Pineapple Processing facility.Mrs Pearson,Emre Mor Dortmund Jersey, who is also president of the Tri-Lake Farmers’ Association, spoke of the holding of the workshop as an historic day for the Tri-Lake communities, which she said will now be venturing into a new domain — agro-tourism. She viewed the idea of harnessing the potential as invaluable. Communities will be able to learn from each other.Another laudable project initiated to boost the marketability of agro tourism within the area is the establishment of an exotic nature trail within the Mainstay/Whyaka community.To ensure the sustainability of the agro tourism project, Mr Ignatius Jean spoke of the ‘Loan Revolving Fund,’ which provides access to the much needed financial resources to further develop income-generating activities.He called for persons accessing the fund to ensure that it operated as a business enterprise to maintain sustainability. “The ‘Loan Revolving Fund’ is worth US$25,000, provided by the Kellogg Foundation. While the total sum is interest-free, efforts should be made to repay each loan to ensure that there is accountability and sustainability.”Recently appointed Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Mrs Pauline Sukhai, on her first visit to the community since taking over the post, lauded the initiative of the communities in seeking to collective harness the potential of the Tri-Lake communities.She, however, observed that there is a number of mushrooming agro-tourism ventures in the hinterland, for example Surama and Nappie, which go unnoticed, and called on the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce to pay closer attention to these areas.The minister viewed the empowerment of women as a challenge to communities now that there is the global demand for food, as it would attract investment. The approach to revitalise potential in the community is seen as a support to the ‘Grow More Food’ campaign at the community level.One aspect of the project involves residents of the communities being aware of the need to promote good environmental practices to assist the communities to develop and maintain their agriculture and tourism enterprises.Mr Shyam Nokta, Managing Director, Environmental Management Consultants, who spoke on this environmental venture, told the gathering which also included the captains and councillors of the other two communities that environmental awareness is not only about sanitation and waste management.Regional Development Officer, Region Two, Devanand Ramdatt, in his remarks, noted that one of the main challenges facing Guyana and other countries in the Caribbean region is diversification of the economies to compete on the international market.To this end, he sees agriculture as playing an important role to meet the shortfall likely to be caused by other protected markets.Other presentations were made by Trinidadian-born ago-tourism consultant Mr Steve Maximay, who noted that food is a strong link between the land and culture.
