Agriculture advocate says investments in youth, technology crucial for development
Joshua Jomo Macey’s love for agriculture began in his greatgrandmother’s garden. For Macey, 25, also known as ‘Tujay,’ love was not always the case but came with time as he gained an understanding of farming. “As I got older, I understood the satisfaction that came with looking after plants,” Macey, an agriculturist, entrepreneur and photographer, who graduated from the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) and is currently pursuing a degree in Food Science at the University of Guyana, told Stabroek Weekend. “Agriculture is a wealthy career path and once you can feed yourself no matter what is happening, everything is okay.”
Macey explained that his life as an agriculture student at GSA was not always easy. Waking at 6am to tend to his crops was challenging, but it allowed him to learn good agricultural techniques, like proper irrigation and
crop rotation. Crop rotation helps to preserve the nutrient profile of the soil, as some crops would have different nutritional needs than others and no one nutrient gets depleted if crops are rotated regularly. Some plants like bean crops even enhance the nutrient profile of the soil by adding nutrients such as nitrogen. These are some of the bits of knowledge that Macey shares when advising clients on setting up kitchen gardens through his business, FarMacey, which helps to pay his tuition at the university.
While he currently wears multiple hats, Macey wants to be remembered as the creative agriculture guy, who was vocal about advocating agricultural development. “I advocate on [social media] and in real life. I advocate for young people to be more involved in agriculture. I advocate [and] tell my friends to at least plant something in your yard,” he explained. Macey said advocacy about agriculture can reach Guyanese through innovative and creative ideas like animation, photography, jingles, and filmography. He photographs his own products for retail. He sells cassareep, cassava and teabags (soursop, moringa, lemon grass, and capadulla). He has also made several creative videos informing the public on good agricultural practices and advocates for more technological innovation to increase production and help farmers maximise their time. “We need to upgrade our technology in agriculture at GSA and give students the hands-on feeling of robotics in agriculture. Agricultural innovation is very limited in Guyana,” he said. He highlighted Jarad Atkinson, a farmer from Amelia’s
Ward, Linden, who was able to build a mini hydropower system by watching YouTube tutorials and using materials he already had access to, including an old washing machine. This is the type of innovation Macey hopes can be developed on a larger scale in Guyana and help the agricultural sector to be more efficient and competitive.
The sustainability of agriculture is also dependent on being aware of climate change and how it affects crops, Macey said. He explained that recently Guyana had to import another variety of tomatoes from Brazil because the heat was not conducive to the growth of the English variety grown here. Macey explained that through technology this issue could have been solved. He said Guyana needs to look into cross-breeding to create new varieties of crops that are able to thrive amidst our changing climate. These are some of the techniques Macey hopes can be adopted to sustain the agriculture industry. These practices can be utilised by young agriculturists, but they need support.
Macey believes the government needs to invest in youths who have fresh ideas on how to develop themselves and their communities through agriculture. “Accessibility to land for younger persons would give them a chance to compete and add their knowledge or innovation. Give young people a chance to make that land work,” he said. “I would love a policy that allows young people who have experience, completed their degree and diploma to have access to farmlands once they make proposals. They can come as an individual or as a group. A lot of the policies I would like to see are land policies. Especially if they come with a proper plan.”
Macey’s current goal is to acquire land and set up an agro-processing facility where he can use raw materials to manufacture and package food products for the market. Producing is important to him because it adds value to his skills; he also cautioned that young agriculturists should be aware of their mental health and take required breaks. “Having a support system to do agriculture is good and make sure you check your mental health when doing agriculture because it can affect your productivity and sometimes it is good to take a break. And just don’t live in ideology as how things can be but how things are and how you can better it.” He believes this is possible if people examine the history of agriculture. Understanding the history of agriculture and the impact on its development would give farmers an appreciation for farming and the sustainability of agriculture, he said.