President plugs resurgence of coffee industry in Region One

President Irfaan Ali today pledged to revive the coffee industry in Region One (Barima-Waini) during a visit to the Waramuri Village, where he met with residents who called on the Government to also offer better internet access, better infrastructure and greater access to public services.

Accompanied by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha and Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, the President told the residents of Waramuri and neighbouring communities, that the Government plans to invest more in the region and to revive its coffee industry.

“We want to do some major crops here that are high value, that will put you back on the regional map. So, we want to start, we have already established the nursery, by having a 10,000 plantation, 10,000 plant coffee – arabica and liberica. We want to bring back the coffee production in Region One and we are investing in 10,000 plants to start back this production in Region One,” the President said.

He said the Government will also be investing in coconut and breadfruit production.

“We want to expand coconut production in this region, and we are going to set aside 20,000 Brazilian nuts, the high quality, high bearing, high value, high yield variety of coconuts. We are setting aside 20,000 plants for Region One, and we want the region to identify the areas, so we can have your communities, coffee, coconut. The other thing we want to do here, breadfruit production is an important regional commodity and we are going to support you by having the market available,” President Ali told the residents.

But the residents of the small indigenous community, while offering praises to the Government for some improvements int the community, said there are a number of other important needs in the community.

Colin De La Cruz, Headteacher of the Waramuri Primary Top made a case for the school to be equipped with internet services.

“The internet at Waramuri, if you notice, we struggle a lot for even phone signal here, and we don’t get internet at this school, and in this modern age of technology, interne is actually becoming the basic need of the education system. So, we have to get internet to operate,” De La Cruz said.

He said the lack of internet access in the school is severely hampering the delivery of education.

Further, he said while students in the area have been excelling in sports, in particular footfall, and other cultural programmes, it would appear that there is no real budget for Culture, Youth and Sport in the Region, since communities such as Maramuri would have to engage in fundraising exercises to offset their expenses when competing in regional and national competitions.

Another resident spoke of the need for improved infrastructure such as roads in the village.

“My first request is a concrete road from Waramuri Water Front, at least, maybe up to the Waramuri Recreational Ground, and this is also part of our 10-years plan and we will be extremely grateful if this request can be granted. Now, there are some basic reasons why, we as a village would like to see this happen, because in instances when you have emergencies, we tend to use this stretch because vehicles cannot reach down to the landing, only pickups, which we do not actually have,” he explained.

Other residents spoke of the need for a housing programme in the village as well as better public services including health services.

In response, President Ali assured the residents that the requisite support will be provided through the various communities.

A number of Government Ministers including the Ministers of Culture, Youth and Sport, Education, Health, Local Government and Public Works are expected to visit the village on Saturday to address the concerns raised at today’s meeting.