First lady launches garden project at State House

First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar last Friday launched a garden project at her husband’s official residence, State House, aimed at promoting agriculture amongst young people. The project; “Garden for the Children of Guyana” was chosen to coincide with International Children’s Day.
“I wish to honour the children of Guyana in a practical way by involving them in an activity that would produce tangible results,” said First Lady Ramotar.
Garden for the Children of Guyana utilises three methods of cultivation. It exposes young people to traditional gardening, hydroponics and raised bed gardening.
“I hope that this small garden here at State House will eventually become a space where children can interact, learn from each other, and about each other; build team spirit and be inspired to cultivate their own small garden at school and at home,” First Lady Ramotar said.
President Donald Ramotar in a brief address stated that he was “happy” that his lovely wife was taking on such an initiative, noting that agriculture was a “noble profession”. “This is why I’m happy that my wife is taking this initiative because I think we need to bring dignity to every form of work that people do, and agriculture in particular, which has such a big role to play in the development of our country”
President Ramotar said that when taken in the global context, agriculture will be widely demanded to feed the world’s population. “And it’s not only feeding ourselves, but agriculture can become a prosperous business for entrepreneurs, for our children to be inspired by it, to love it…; and not only satisfy their immediate needs, but can make a very good living if they go into this area of activity, and perform their work,” the president stated.
The initiative targets students from the Kingston Secondary School, Christ Church Secondary School and St John’s College as these schools are close to State House. First Lady Ramotar said she intends to roll out the initiative across the country. “I would like to encourage teachers and parents to be a part of this drive to revive interest in gardening.”
The Garden for the Children of Guyana initiative is being done in tandem with the goals and objectives of the Agriculture Ministry, specifically the adoption of technologies to promote urban and sub-urban agriculture, as well as climate smart agriculture practices.