Penn State Researcher Humbled by Guyana Visit

CHRIS TORRES
Staff Writer

Frank Higdon recently returned from Guyana after a two-week trek in the South American paradise. He can officially say he has grown a greater appreciation for farming in the U.S.

He traveled with four others to Guyana in January, where he not only learned a lot about the struggles of farmers in the small South American country, he learned just how fortunate farmers in the U.S. are.

The trip was sponsored by the Partners of the Americas and the Farmer to Farmer Program, which was created to improve economic conditions in rural Latin America and the Caribbean through increased food production and distribution.

It was not the first time Higdon, a senior lecturer in community development at Penn State, has traveled outside of the country to learn about ag practices elsewhere.

He once worked for the Peace Corps in the Philippines. He also traveled to Belize in Central America, where he studied Mennonite farmers and their efforts to implement "modern" technology, such as silos, to their farms. "You almost feel like you're in Lancaster County," he said of his experience in Belize.

When he was asked to join the Guyana group, he thought he was going back to Central America. "When I heard about this thing in Guyana," he said, "from what I read about it, it sounded like Belize."

What he read and saw proved to be two very different things. "There were elements of this rural society I wasn't expecting actually," he said. "They still have what amounts to a plantation economy," an economy that relies mainly on sugar and rice as its cash crops.

Guyana is situated along the northern coast of South America and is bordered by Venezuela, Brazil and Suriname.

The country has about 700,000 people, most of which are closely packed in urban areas along the Atlantic coast.

Higdon's group was tasked with evaluating the potential for an export cattle industry in the country.

He estimated the country has about 300,000 head of cattle.

According to Higdon, trade disputes with European countries have made it almost a necessity to see if Guyana's beef and milk products can be exported. "The intent is basically to develop the industry to provide some of the Caribbean's beef," he said.

He said 75 percent of the country's current economic activity comes from sugar and rice exports. But there in lies the problem for cattle.

Higdon said rice and cattle compete for the same land base since most of the country's interior, which he said is savannah, not rain forest, is largely inhabited and is not developed for livestock. During the dry season, which is between September and April, Zebu beef cattle, which resemble the famed Brahman cattle of India, are allowed to graze the fields. During the rest of the year, which is considered the "wet" season, rice is grown.

The situation has created a number of conflicts, with some farmers going as far as spraying irrigation ditches with poisons and pesticides to shooting the livestock to retake the land. "It has been causing a lot of conflict," he said.

Higdon said the beef breeds don't produce quality beef and the lack of food has some animals weighing in with carcass weights as low as 200 pounds. "These are cattle that are basically scrounging on their own," he said. "They really don't have a way of raising beef in that country."

The dairy situation is just as bad if not worse. Along with the industry being largely unorganized, Higdon said the cows, which are mostly Holsteins, only produce an average of three gallons of milk per day because of a lack of feed.

The milk is sold raw. Farmers sell the milk for what he said is "cash on hand."

The cows are housed in unsanitary conditions Higdon described as "unheard of." Most cows are milked by hand. In the "model" dairies, the cows graze in swamp grass, up to their bellies in mud.

The lack of milk production has forced stores to carry imported milk from countries as nearby as Argentina and as far away as Iran. "I think there is a perception from the people that local milk isn't sanitary," he said.

Higdon said the country's ag problems not only start with farmers that lack understanding of effective farming practices, but also with government land policies. He said most of the land is owned by the government and is leased out to farmers through 50 year agreements. The system, Higdon said, gives farmers little incentive to improve their situation. "They have no incentive to invest in the land because it's not theirs," he said.

Organizations that are supposed to promote beef and dairy are largely involved in negotiating land contracts instead. "They really need to have land reform," he said. "There is a tremendous need to develop organizational capacity so they can work together. In our country, we tend to take private property for granted. Guyana is an example of a country that has not developed private property."

But with all of the country's problems including lack of land, bad sanitation and broken land policies, Higdon was still positive with the country's prospects of developing a viable ag industry. He said small groups have started to band together and are starting to develop plans to improve sanitation. Many family farmers have even committed to staying in the country, even though their situations would probably be much better elsewhere.

Higdon described a small family farm he saw in which the family raised 10 cattle, 20 pigs, 10 goats and a flock of poultry on less than one acre of land. The family would go as far as getting cut grasses from irrigation ditches and placing it under their house for livestock feed. "It's just amazing to me what people will do to survive," he said.

It may seem primitive, but Higdon said hard-working families like this will determine the future of the country's ag systems just as the Mennonites worked together in Belize to improve agriculture there. "It's inspiring sometimes to see what people will do to make it work," he said. "I think with some very small improvements, I think the potential is great."

In the end, Higdon said he will remember the warmth and kindness he was treated with on his second journey to Latin America. "I find the Guyanese to really be gracious and open. We met with so many farmers," he said.

He thinks farmers in the U.S. would be humbled by the situation in Guyana and should be thankful for what they have. "Our farmers are very lucky having these things they have available to them," he said. "I think they (Guyanese) have it in their heart to succeed."