[www.inewsguyana.com] – A cash crop farmer of Aurora Village, Essequibo Coast has complained to President Donald Ramotar that he cannot secure market for his pumpkins.
The farmer told the President and his Agriculture Ministers Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and Alli Baksh at a public meeting on Sunday, July 13 that he cannot harvest several thousand pounds of pumpkins from his four acres plot because there is no market available for his produce.
However, Region Two (2) Chairman Parmanand Persaud said he is making every effort to secure markets for farmers produce, including pumpkins, through the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (NGMC). The Chairman also reported that large scale cash crop farmer Vilma Da Silva on the Lower Pomeroon also has some 60,000 pounds of pumpkin that she harvested from her farm and cannot secure market.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture on the market issue for pumpkins, MP Dharamkumar Seeraj said the NGMC will have to find markets quickly for farmer’s pumpkins. He said too that the Agriculture Ministry through the NGMC has upped exports of non-traditional crops by more than 600%.
