President Irfaan Ali has signalled plans to help take products developed by students through an agro-processing camp beyond the classroom and onto supermarket shelves and other commercial spaces.
The programme, now in its fourth year, has expanded from approximately 10 to 12 schools to 49 schools across Guyana, exposing mainly Grade Nine and Ten students to practical skills and entrepreneurship.Students are being trained in areas including agro-processing, catering, visual arts, industrial technology, building technology and furniture making, with the camps linked to the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) framework.During an engagement with students from The Bishops’ High School, J.C. Chandisingh Secondary and Canje Secondary, several locally developed products were showcased, including turmeric soap, banana ketchup, chilli pepper flakes and hair products made with coconut and rosemary oils.
President Ali said he was encouraged by the students’ interest in agriculture as a business. He also said the Government intends to work with the 49 schools, the Guyana Development Bank and the New Guyana Marketing Corporation to explore opportunities to commercialise some of the products. “I’m going to work with these 49 schools to see how, in the Development Bank, we can create opportunities, and the [Marketing] Corporation can be one of the off-takers,” Ali said. He also floated the possibility of engaging supermarkets to establish dedicated spaces for the students’ products. “We can also talk to some of the supermarkets to carry a special shelf that says ‘Made by the children of Guyana’, and you can have that stuff on those shelves,” the President said. The initiative is aimed at teaching students not only practical skills, but also financial management, teamwork, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Ali also pointed to the strong participation of females in agro-processing, noting that about 35 per cent of new farms and almost 80 per cent of agro-processing facilities are owned by women.
Student-made agro products could soon hit supermarket shelves
