Guyana is a leading rice producing country in the English Speaking Caribbean. While rice husk is considered as a waste in the rice milling industries in Guyana, it is finding useful applications in other developing countries. One such application is the use of its silica rich ash as a eementitious material for rural building projects. Although wooden houses are popular in Guyana, a preliminary study has shown that the use of concrete in the building industry could expand if the foreign exchange rate on cement importation could be reduced. The potential of rice hush ash as an extender to imported Portland cement has been studied. A survey of the availability of rice husk in Guyana has indicated that quantities of the material are sufficient to support a rural building industry. A prototype incinerator has been designed with special features to burn the husk and is capable of maintaining bed temperatures in the range of 800 -900"C. The ash produced is amorphous and highly reactive when mixed with lime and water. The compressive strength of the mortars produced with the extended cement of 1:1 blend and cured for 3-28 days ranged between 11.25 and 20.42 N/ram 2. These figures are in excess of 8-31% over imported cement mix.