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$947.6M in presidential grants disbursed to Amerindian Villages in 2023
Kaieteur News – The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs has disbursed approximately $947.6 million in presidential grants to Indigenous villages/communities during 2023.
Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai
This is according to Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai who noted the figure during her ministry’s year-end press conference on Tuesday at their Thomas Street, Georgetown office. It was noted by the minister that her ministry currently serves about 250 Indigenous communities countrywide. The Presidential Grant which started in 2007 under the PPP/C administration is one of the major interventions being undertaken by the Government aimed at boosting economic and social development for Indigenous People in the respective villages and communities.
It was mentioned at the press conference that presidential grants have increased, and would now see small villages that used to receive about $450,000 are now receiving $1 million and those who are receiving larger amounts like $1.2 million, $1.8 million are now receiving a minimum of $2 million and more. Minister Sukhai stated that of the $947.6 million in grant spent, a large chunk of it went towards agricultural projects in the Amerindian communities. “The presidential grant we have spent $947.6 million in that grant in 2023, for agriculture, we spent $261.3million. So agriculture may have been the largest chunk of the assigned sums of money from that grant,” she said.
The minister noted that this is so, because Amerindian communities are based on agriculture and so their lives depend on food security. She added “so the terrain, location and also the soil type and distance, Amerindian villages continue to need further support in agriculture.”
Minister Sukhai went on to state that a new intervention which is also catered in presidential grant and in support of agriculture is the introduction of shade and green houses in these communities. She noted that this project has been able to attract a lot of women and young people. “It (shade house project) has caught on quite a lot over the last year and a half and the Amerindian Village Councils have also requested that shade houses be built in communities,” she shared.
In relation to the implementation of shade houses, minister said that it is President Irfaan Ali’s idea that where there are schools and school-feeding programmes, it could be a sustainable venture for shade houses to be built and for the schools to utilise the foods they produce.
“And so, out of all the support that we have provided for agriculture last year, we have 38 projects, we have 17 shade houses that were assigned last year to villages and that added up to about $85 million,” she stated.
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