The hydroponics facility at the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD) has produced tonnes of produce for 2023 thus far – a majority of which is being used to supply hotels.
President Dr Irfaan Ali yesterday visited the operation where he was informed that among the harvest for 2023 are two tonnes of chilies, two tonnes of hot peppers, 50,000 heads of lettuce, one tonne of carrots and 2.4 tonnes of cauliflower.
Meanwhile, there are 25,000 plants in the hydroponics nursery and this capacity will reach 100,000 within the next two weeks. Crops include mint, celery, parsley, pak choi, cucumber, kale, basil, chives, thyme, and many more.
This operation is being conducted on 10 acres of land, using 90ft by 40ft shade houses. Using traditional methods, it would require a larger area of land, estimated at 30 acres.
“The intention of this facility is to build additional facilities like this one to meet the entire CARICOM needs for these crops. Then, the next phase is to do modern aquaculture in tanks. This is wonderful…and it is 100 percent Guyanese,” the President lauded.
Some 75 percent of interns who have benefitted from programmes at the farm have now launched their own agricultural businesses, having benefitted from materials from NAREI to kickstart their respective enterprises.
Hydroponics is one of the modern technologies being embraced by Government as it seeks to support CARICOM’s vision of slashing the food import bill by 25 percent by 2025.
