Cassava cultivation to get boost – 14 new varieties to be introduced

As Guyana increas-es its cassava pro-duction, the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium to Support Cassava Research and Development(CLAYUCA) is helping to introduce 14 new variet-ies; train staff to multiplythe samples; and acquireequipment for planting, harvesting, and process-ing of the product.CLAYUCA’s Head, (NARI) Director Dr Oudho Homenauth to brief those officials on their work programme over the next two days. Dr Ospina stressed, too,that CLAYUCA’s em-phasis in on producinghigh quality cassava. Persaud told the ex-perts that while Guyana is looking to advance cassava production, it is as such, he hopes thatCLAYUCA could set up a mill there. Dr Ospina raised questions about energy sources in the hinterland, and Persaud advised that it would have to be natural sourc-es of power. However, heurged the experts to meet the Amerindian Affairs officials, since that min-istry could invest in the is now building a tissue culture laboratory and this would help to aid the cassava activities, since the country is look-ing at the commodity as food, feed and even fuel. The two experts arescheduled to meet to-morrow with local ag-riculturalists and lead-ing farmers to talk about cassava. CLAYUCA is a Colombia-based con-  Dr Bernardo Ospina, and Cassava Expert CandidaLopez are currently in Guyana for three days to follow-up on activitiesproposed for this coun-try. The officials have to ensure that a laboratoryis equipped to receive the new varieties, since 50 plants are to be shippedhere in another month. Tasked with train-ing members of the localstaff and conducting sep-arate training sessions for producers of cassava, the two also plan to visitGenebank at Kairuni and farmers on the highwayto conduct evaluations of local varieties. Further, they would hold discus-sions with private farm-ers, such as Vic Oditt, on expansion plans, and fi-nalise other activities re-lated to cassava develop-ment in Guyana.Just after arrivingearly Wednesday morn-ing, the cassava ex-perts met Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud and National AgricultureResearch Institute also eyeing possibilities for value added and pro-cessing activities, recog-nising the ‘need to move to the next level’ with this commodity. Notingthat CLAYUCA’s agenda includes establishment of a flour mill, Persaud expressed interest, add-ing that there is a possi-bility to look at whether the local flour mill has capacity for cassava pro-cessing.He related that the Guyanese authorities have just started cassava development in a number of hinterland areas, and mill with the Agriculture Ministry, and CLAYUCA would provide technical support.New varieties are also very important, the minister stressed, and assured that NARI would work with the ex-perts to ensure facilities are ready for the cassa-va programme. He com-mitted to assigning two agricultural officers to work with the CLAYUCA team, one focusing on production, and the oth-er on processing. Further, the minis-ter boasted that Guyana Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud meets the cassava experts at Ministry of Agriculture (ministry of agriculture photo) sortium founded by Colombia, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela. It aims to improve the living standards and sustainable natural re-source management in regions of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) where cassava plays an important role in agri-cultural production sys-tems. Guyana is one of several LAC countries that are members of CLAYUCA, and stand to benefit from a packed se-ries of activities to push cassava production and development. Since CLAYUCA is self-financed, each mem-ber has to pay an annual membership fee that is calculated on the coun-try’s annual production. The consortium focuses on generation, transfer and exchange of technol-ogies; and information and scientific knowledge among public and pri-vate sector institutions and farmers in the re-gion.