“Information technology is a means of empowerment”, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud declared today at the launching of the “Pesticides & Toxic Chemicals Control Board Website” at the Guyana School of Agriculture, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.This exercise aims to educate students, farmers and ordinary citizens about the different uses and misuses of pesticides and chemicals associated with agriculture.

Launching of the Pesticide and Toxic Chemical Control Board’s website and the Guyana Pesticide Management Information System. From Left: Hon. Robert M. Persaud, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Munroe, Chairman, Pesticide and Toxic Chemical Control Board (PTCCB), Representative, Pan American Health Organisation, Hon. Bheri Ramsaran,Minister in the Ministry of Health and Mr. Basudeo Dwarka, Registrar, PTCCB. Auditorium of the Guyana School of Agriculture, October 08 2008

This is another initiative by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Pesticides & Toxic Chemicals Control Board and the Pan American Health Organisation.
The website, www.ptccb.org.gy, will enhance training for students and farmers in areas such as the use of herbicides and insecticides in plant management. It would include news articles, both local and international on pesticides and the use of toxic chemicals on crops.
The website showcases the different stakeholders and vending premises, and pest control operators and importers.
Advice would be given on the type of pesticide that should be used on particular crops, the duration of such use and the time for planting and fertilizing.
Minister Persaud noted that the Government is prepared to support and serve farmers and this website would pave the way for them to do so.

The gathering at the Pesticide and Toxic Chemical Control Board’s website launching and the Guyana Pesticide Management Information System

He added that this type of technology is consistent with modern farming trends and these changes have forced the Ministry and the Government to look at different techniques.
The Minister of Agriculture remarked that with the removal of tariffs as outlined by the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) if it comes into being, agricultural produce would have to compete with other European markets and as such the agricultural market would have to become more competitive. The EPA is a proposed trade agreement with all European nations which would allow for free trade and the removal of tariffs with regard to goods and services produced in the Caribbean.
This makes it necessary for farmers to meet the requirements on the world market. He referred to the Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary Standards (SPS) requirements on the world market and its effects on the agriculture sector. This requirements looks at what type of fertilizer is used, how much and how it is used.
Minister Persaud stated that because of these requirements farmers could be deprived of markets, unless their products are of international standards. He stated that in CARICOM markets, the requirements are now more stringent.