Guyana launches project to create economic opportunities from organic waste

Jan 30, 2020 News

Guyana is among six Caribbean territories that are benefiting from a waste management pilot project designed to create economic opportunities from organic waste. The Guyana leg is a partnership between the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

Participants at the workshop

The pilot project, which was launched on Monday, is being implemented in two-phases and is facilitated by Technical Specialist under the IICA, Dr. Abimbola Abiola.
The first phase of the project was a two-day workshop titled, “Creating Economic Opportunities for the Organic Waste Management Sector through the Adoption of Bio-economic Models in the Caribbean.” The workshop was conducted in NAREI’s Boardroom, Mon Repos.

Participating agencies were selected from both private and public sectors. They included Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), NAREI, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Guyana Development Livestock Authority (GDLA).

Participants will now be responsible for several projects. They are expected to present their findings in April 2020 when the second phase of the project will commence.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of NAREI, Dr. Oudho Homenuath, this project, which would assist in eliminating greenhouse gases, complements the Institute’s research in soil management.

“Soil health is important so we have been doing various researches in this regard. While we would have conducted some studies in composting, emphasis is being placed on vermin-composting. We have been able to transfer this technology to the farming communities. Another area we are looking at is the utilization of coconut waste. We have had successes with the use of coconut coir and cocopeat,” Dr. Homenauth explained.

Country Representative of IICA to Guyana, Wilmot Garnett, encouraged participants to consider the financial aspects of their projects ,since agriculture is business. He explained that the findings would help to determine whether a project would be financially feasible in one area versus another.

Garnett related that Belize, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, and The Bahamas are also beneficiaries of this pilot project. However, the project will be rolled out to other Caribbean territories.

“IICA through its programmes of Bio-economy and Production Development; and Climate Change, Natural Resources and Management of Production Risks, has identified the potential solution of developing a model based on composting technology (in its first stage). This model promotes the development of complex interlinkages between actors in the value chain, such as those in the renowned industrial symbiosis projects,” Garnett said