“The eradication of extreme hunger and poverty, goal one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adumbrated by the United Nations for attainment by 2015, has been realised by Guyana.”This is according to a statement issued by the Government Information Agency which goes on to state that Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud said that Guyana welcomes the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) recognition of the country’s progress in attaining food security and described the accomplishment as one which many first world countries have been able to attain.Alliance for Change Leader,NFL Cheap Jerseys, Raphael Trotman has since lambasted this statement calling it an embarrassment, adding that no government official could seriously say that poverty and extreme hunger have been eradicated in Guyana.Trotman said that for the Minister to make such a pronouncement is insulting to people who are still dependent on assistance such as those which are assisted by government programmes such as those run by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.Trotman drew reference to the ongoing Poverty Reduction Strategy as a visible recognition of poverty in Guyana.He said that the statement certainly could not be intended to fool the international community, given the fact that there are ways in which poverty in a country can be measured.Actual living conditions of an individual in GuyanaThe GINA report quotes Persaud as saying that the successes in food security in this regard were wrought ‘through astute planning and leadership’ as evident in Government’s recognition of the urgent need for a comprehensive national package of interventions in the face of the consequences of climate change and international economic downturn.Pointing to the ‘Grow More Food” campaign,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Outlet, the Minister noted that the initiative was part of Government’s efforts to shield the domestic population from the adverse impacts of the onset of rapidly rising food prices in 2008 and weak international action to combat the crisis.According to the PRS papers, posted in the International Monetary Fund’s wesbsite, despite its abundant resources, Guyana is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere with a per capita income of US$770 in 2000.In recognition of the country’s high incidence of poverty, in 1993 the Government sought assistance from the Carter Center to develop “homegrown policies” whose implementation would improve standards of living.The National Development Strategy (NDS) that emerged was deep in content and analysis.Its formulation was truly participatory with over 200 professionals from Government and civil society, including NGOs, the business community and the University of Guyana, working in over 23 technical groups,Cheap Jerseys From China, were involved in producing this comprehensive document.During its preparation, and after the completion of the first draft in 1996, its formulators visited several regions of Guyana to learn the people’s wishes, hopes and aspirations,jerseys from china, and to obtain ideas for the solution of their local problems.The NDS was subsequently revised and updated in 1998 and 1999 by an independent group of members of civil society, tabled in Parliament in August 2000, and following the hiatus to accommodate preparations for elections, re-tabled in August 2001.In October 1999, the Government organised a Business Summit with the private sector to chart a new course of rapid investment and growth in Guyana, with the twin goals of employment creation and poverty reduction.The objectives of that Summit were to identify the constraints that impede private sector development,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, and to seek a consensus on the measures to be put in place to accelerate private investment.The Summit formulated an action plan to advance the course of private sector development and subsequently established a joint Government-private sector unit to oversee its implementation.In 2000, using the vast information available from the NDS and the Business Summit, the Guyana Government began the task of developing a Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) that would place sustained emphasis on policies and programmes that would markedly reduce poverty. There were very good reasons for this, given that in a 1992, Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS), about 43 percent of the population were found to live below the poverty line. Although within a very short span of eight years, absolute poverty levels had fallen by over a third, the Government found it imperative to develop a comprehensive strategy that would further reduce poverty by 50 percent by 2015.The Government’s Interim Pover