{"id":31196,"date":"2026-07-31T20:49:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=31196"},"modified":"2026-07-31T20:49:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:49:41","slug":"govt-support-helps-farmer-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/govt-support-helps-farmer-rebuild\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov\u2019t support helps farmer rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">-with dragon fruit venture <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">-by Kyler Rollins<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Government support has helped one determined farmer turn devastating setbacks into a thriving agricultural venture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Devon Gilead, farming has never been just about growing crops it has been a story of determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Long before investing more than $5 million into establishing a thriving dragon fruit farm in Glasgow Housing Scheme, East Bank Berbice, Devon experimented with cultivating grapes, apples and vanilla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His ambitious venture drew widespread attention, attracting curious visitors, school groups and even Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who toured the vineyard to witness the unique agricultural undertaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But just as his vision was beginning to take shape, the crops he had painstakingly nurtured were maliciously destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recognising his perseverance and commitment to growing these exotic fruits, the Government allocated land to support his continued efforts. After much thought and support from his wife about the future of his farming enterprise, Devon turned his attention to dragon fruit cultivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;My wife seh man, why not try dragon fruit, right. She seh yes, dragon fruit. I seh dragon fruit? She seh yeah because a lot of people don\u2019t know about dragon fruit and it has a lot of health benefits just like the grapes. Dragon fruit have a lot of health benefit too. So, I take her advice and I seh man how we gon get this variety because it get a lot of fake variety on the market right now,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Determined to make a fresh start, the 45-year-old farmer set out to source authentic dragon fruit plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After extensive research and careful planning, he invested in 1,000 plants, laying the foundation for what would become his newest agricultural venture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, his days are devoted to the painstaking care and cultivation of those plants. &nbsp; Devon credits much of his renewed journey to the support he received from the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Thanks especially to the Vice President and Agriculture Minister and also the president also. They have seen my need and they see potential within me and they\u2019re willing to help along with my journey. Despite I does go through some challenges with the farm like getting shade net and so. If I call the Agriculture Minister and ask for shade net for the farm, right away I will get it,&#8221; the farmer said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The dragon fruit harvested from his farm is being transformed into by-products such as wine, jam and jelly, which he expects will soon be available on the local market. Pleased with the progress of his investment, he plans to once again venture into grape cultivation, returning to one of the crops that first fuelled his passion for innovative farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>-with dragon fruit venture -by Kyler Rollins Government support has helped one determined farmer turn devastating setbacks into a thriving agricultural venture. For Devon Gilead, farming has never been just&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[468,350],"tags":[488,370,412,405],"class_list":["post-31196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-news","tag-488","tag-guyana","tag-ncn-guyana","tag-ncn-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31196","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31198,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31196\/revisions\/31198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}