Latest update February 20th, 2025 12:39 PM
Students to help plant 15,000 mangrove seedlings along Essequibo foreshore
By August month-end, mangrove seedlings would be planted along 300 metres of foreshore by Walton Hall, Essequibo Coast. In May, approximately $1.6 million in contracts were awarded to several individuals and three learning institutions to grow the seedlings in private nurseries within the district.
The project is being managed by the Mangrove Restoration and Management Department of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI). It is expected to culminate next month with the planting of the seedlings on the foreshore.
Students watering the seedlings
According to Dr. Oudho Homenauth, Chief Executive Officer of NAREI, the Walton Hall restoration project will require 15,000 seedlings in order to have a thriving mangrove forest in that area. Contractors are moving apace in growing the required amount of seedlings.
He noted that this is the first time NAREI has engaged the services of schools in the restoration project. The schools that benefit from the project are Guyana School of Agriculture, Cotton Field Secondary and 8th May Secondary School. This was done to have youths, the country’s future, participate in the restoration project in a meaningful way.
Dr. Homenauth related that the students as well as the individual contractors were trained in the best practices for mangrove production. Additionally, NAREI’s staffers are constantly monitoring the progress of the contractors to ensure guidelines for producing quality seedlings are being followed.
Marilyn Anrood, one of the individual contractors, is thankful for the constant interaction with the Mangroves Ranger since this is her first time planting mangrove seedlings. She is contracted to plant 1,000 seedlings. She has surpassed that amount by 200 thus far.
Anrood, a rice farmer, was not expecting the project to be a tough one. She said that the seedlings require a lot of attention. “So far the seedlings I grow coming well…It had some that get worms but I got rid of those and I plant new ones,” she added.
The woman, who is also a widow, is thankful for the income earned from this project. “For the past seven months the mill owes me for my rice and not paying so the money I get from this assists me to pay my bills,” Anrood said.
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