SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SARD)

IMPROVED DAIRY HERD AT ST. STANISLAUS COLLEGE
FARM –IMPROVEMENT IN GUYANA’S DAIRY SECTOR

In 1983, St Stanislaus College, a secondary school in Georgetown, with a 6.8 ha farm had a dairy herd with three cows, two heifers and one bull calf. A decade later, at the end of 1992, the herd had increased more than five-fold to 19 cows, 12 heifers, two female calves and one breeding bull. Milk production increased more than ten-fold, from 714 litres in 1983 to 10,502 litres per hectare in 1992. Milk production per cow doubled, from 1,215 litres in 1983 to 2,948 litres in 1992. Increased production was coupled with decreasing production cost, from US$0.67 in 1986, to US$0.14 in 1992. Improved production and productivity on this school farm can be attributed not only to the larger dairy herd, modernised infrastructure and enhanced genetic quality of the herd, but also to the improved capacity of the on-farm human resources, resulting in better record-keeping systems and effective herd management.

Pivotal to the achievements of this dairy farm (a local, private sector entity) has been an effective partnership among the Farm’s Management Committee, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the National Dairy Development Programme. Not only did this partnership between local organisations and an international one result in enhanced production and productivity on the school farm, but, the St. Stanislaus College Farm has evolved into a regional training centre for students, dairy farmers, and agricultural technicians, from both the public and private sector.

This contribution to the development of the dairy sector in Guyana was initiated when the farm’s management committee recognised the need for and sought assistance to improve their technical capacity and on-farm technologies. Sixteen years later, it is evident that when the direct beneficiaries play an active and participatory role during the early stages of a project, particularly during problem diagnosis, seeds are sown for fruitful results. This success story demonstrates that when groups and agencies work together towards the same goals, favourable results can be obtained and everyone benefits. Such fruitful partnerships can benefit farmers in terms of increased economic returns. In addition, a diversity of private and public sector organisations can also benefit from improved capabilities and services, all of which contribute to sustainability in agricultural development.