{"id":18287,"date":"2024-04-08T13:44:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T13:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=18287"},"modified":"2024-04-08T13:44:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T13:44:21","slug":"minister-mustapha-urges-collaboration-between-epa-and-rice-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/minister-mustapha-urges-collaboration-between-epa-and-rice-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister Mustapha Urges Collaboration between EPA and Rice Farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p>By Saskia Warrick<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The recent burning of rice fields by farmers has sparked concerns from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), prompting calls for dialogue and cooperation from Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, the EPA issued an order instructing rice farmers to cease burning their fields due to the heavy smoke-like conditions it was causing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, the agency urged farmers to transition to alternative methods for field management, such as manual removal or ploughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minister Mustapha emphasized the importance of reaching an agreement between the EPA and rice farmers to address this issue collaboratively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He stressed the need for both parties to find common ground and move forward in a mutually beneficial manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to concerns about the smoke-like conditions, Minister Mustapha consulted with the Hydromet office to understand the underlying reasons behind the phenomenon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He emphasized the importance of managing field burning in a controlled manner to mitigate its impact on the environment and public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, Minister Mustapha addressed the EPA&#8217;s suggestion for farmers to use bailers to manage rice straw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He mentioned that the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) has been providing bailers to farmers to assist them in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The call for collaboration between the EPA and rice farmers underscores the importance of finding sustainable solutions to agricultural practices while safeguarding environmental and public health interests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Saskia Warrick The recent burning of rice fields by farmers has sparked concerns from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), prompting calls for dialogue and cooperation from Agriculture Minister Zulfikar&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[350],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18289,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18287\/revisions\/18289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}