Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon said the establishment and development of cooperatives will aid in the boosting of agriculture in the region. He said currently the aim is to bring farmers together collectively with the understanding that food security in Region 10 is of maximum importance since there is a growing population which need to be adequately fed.
The administration of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) is working on a number of initiatives which is expected to assist in achieving this goal.
“I find the biggest challenge in our region to be that we are not working together… I believe that with that spirit of collectiveness, bringing our farmers collectively together so that they can understand that time is against them… we have a population that is growing and this is sad to say, the region is not producing as it should… and we are working on initiatives to ensure that even at the level of home gardening, people start to produce food, because if we don’t come together, we are unable as is to feed our community. It means only by coming together, we can start to address some of those concerns.
Better understanding
“In coming together, we will allow for a better understanding of where we need to take agriculture. We have to be considerate that we have many farmers with families who are not given the type of support necessary so that they can advance and get the type of produce to the market, and to work with them, we’ve started to embrace this fact about coming together in the cooperative so we can have that type of support mechanism given to them which will allow them to be more competitive,” he said.
Additionally, Solomon said the RDC is working on other initiatives aimed at empowering and ensuring that the rights of persons within the region are not violated, which will also focus on how they can work collectively in order for the community to develop.
Among those initiatives are a programme aimed at beautifying the region’s environs and a community research centre.
He explained that the second phase of the RDC 2013 programme, which is currently being undertaken, is geared towards promoting a level of awareness and education.
This, he said includes “ensuring that we get our communities, our residents involved and aware of what their responsibilities are and ensuring that some of the policy programmes and initiatives that are outlined by the RDC, which includes programmes like having the beautification programme… to ensure that people are taking care of their community, to ensure that we have the central business district of Linden beautified.”
