Activity: Conversation
Host: Moray House Trust
Date: Thursday, 11th August 2016
For those who live in Georgetown, farming is a bit of an abstraction. City folk have little experience of muddy fields, the annual cycle of growth and harvest, failing or flourishing crops and the multiple challenges faced by farming communities across the country. Travel a few miles outside of the city though and it becomes apparent that agriculture is still the bedrock of many rural communities in this country. It is at the centre of their lives and it is now undergoing a period of upheaval.
In recent months, Moray House Trust has tried to extend our focus to some of the issues facing rural communities, in particular those engaged in the cultivation of sugar and rice, where change is afoot and challenges abound. In this spirit, we invited Mr Beni Sankar to share some of his experiences as a man of the soil.
Beni Sankar comes from a distinguished family of rice cultivators and mill owners. In the last decade, he has ventured into aquaculture (breeding tilapia and hassar) and is now firmly focussed on the cultivation and processing of coconuts. He embodies some of the concepts now in vogue in among technocrats and planners such as ‘diversification’ and ‘adaptation to prevailing markets.’
![Photo (shows Beni Sankar and his business partner May Cheung displaying some of their coconut products) courtesy of Stabroek News]](http://www.morayhousetrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Sankar-Leung.png)
On Thursday evening, Moray House Trust hosted ‘A Life in Agriculture: Beni Sankar in conversation with Arnon Adams.’ In the course of the interview, Mr Sankar gave a frank account of his experiences in several sectors of agriculture and lessons learned about, for example, the merits of integrated planning and diversification.
This conversation is part of an ongoing series of interviews with local experts, social commentators and writers organized by the Trust over the years with the aim of interrogating ideas and promoting debate in our society. Previous participants include Elder Eusi Kwayana, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, Rahul Bhattacharya and Clive Lloyd.
The Trust thanks Mr Arnon Adams, the Editor of the Stabroek Business supplement, for conducting the interview with Mr Sankar and bringing his own subtle insights to the issues discussed.
Video Clips
A Life in Agriculture: intro and questions
Moray House Trust invited Beni Sankar to discuss his experience as a farmer in conversation with Arnon Adams, Editor of the Stabroek News Business Supplement. In this introduction, MG Joe Singh (a Trustee of Moray House Trust) outlines the purpose of the initiative.
You Tube Clip: https://youtu.be/iSzV-E4e4Tc
Oxen to airplanes
In this clip Beni Sankar describes his family’s endeavours in the rice industry in Guyana.
You Tube Clip: https://youtu.be/KwW1I6iIh48