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Village economies are crucial for the country’s survival, says former President David Granger. Appearing on his weekly live programme – the Public Interest – Mr. Granger posited that village economies formed the foundation of post-Emancipation subsistence by ‘necessity’.
Explaining the importance of villages, the former President said villages are incubators of entrepreneurship where small- and medium-size (SME) enterprises, especially in farming, can thrive and provide employment. Two-thirds of Guyanese live in about 400 villages on the coastland and in the hinterland.
“SMEs represent about 45 per cent of private sector manufacturing; they produce food for daily subsistence; provide employment; project agro-industrial linkages; promote economic participation; preserve community cohesion and protect the physical environment more effectively than large factories,” Mr. Granger said.
The former President recalls that most regions of Guyana are bigger than some Caribbean countries, noting that every region can be rich because of its physical and natural resources. He also pointed out that the APNU+AFC coalition introduced Village Improvement Plans (VIP) which laid the foundation for promoting village economies and ensuring the success of micro- enterprises.
‘The APNU+AFC coalition through the Small Business Bureau (SBB) and its Sustainable Livelihoods Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) programme, disbursed over $260 M in grants to new, small business owners. The Coalition also supported Regional Agricultural and Commercial Exhibitions (RACE); Rural Agriculture Infrastructure Development (RAID) project; Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Development (READ) project and Rural Entrepreneurial Agricultural Project (REAP) to support villages, the former President recalls.
“Prosperity in the country cannot be built with poverty in the community”, Mr. Granger said. He is adamant that in order to prosper, SMEs must be built on four pillars – Investment: to provide credit facilities to SMEs, particularly for non-collateral credit; Infrastructure: to provide drainage and irrigation structures and services, all-weather, farm-to-market roads, stellings, storage and agro-processing facilities; Information technology to provide data, managerial, technical, vocational skills training and improve the quality and harvest of fruits, ground provisions and vegetables and Innovation to introduce modern methods and technology to augment production in various villages in the country.󠄀
