Agriculture. Minister sets up task force to monitor flood prone areas
The damaged concrete retaining wall at Windsor Forest, Demerara West Coast. (DPI)
A pump is installed at the Pouderoyen sluice gate. (DPI)
Kaieteur News – With the Ministry of Agriculture’s Hydromet Department recently announcing a consultant alerting fishermen and others living on the Coast about high wave and high tides, in addition to the recent increase in rainfall , said Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha. establishing a task force to closely monitor developments in these areas.
The task force, which includes a number of technical officers from Regions Two, Three, Four, Five and Six, is required to report flooding incidents, heavy rainfall and breach of sea defenses and drainage and irrigation structures along the Coast and others low. areas.
Minister Mustapha said that given the severity of Guyana’s advisory and geographical position, it was important to have a team in place.
“We are currently experiencing extreme rainfall as part of our rainy November to January period. The Hydromet Section also predicted high waves and above normal tides. With all this information in hand, it was essential for me to set up this taskforce so that information on what is happening on the ground across the sector can be filtered in a timely manner. I have also instructed our regional engineers and other officials to provide daily reports of rainfall in their respective areas and how it affects people and their farming activities, ”said Minister Mustapha.
The subject Minister further disclosed that the NDIA has been working with Regional Officers to carry out some works to ensure that drainage channels in many farming communities are cleared. This, the Minister said, would improve drainage capacity in these areas in the event of flooding.
In addition, a team from the Ministry is currently working with cash crop and livestock farmers who recently experienced losses due to flooding due to heavy rainfall. During a visit to flood-affected areas at Black Bush Polder, Minister Mustapha reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to assisting affected farmers and directed officials from GLDA and NAREI to carry out assessments in these areas so that some form of assistance can be given to the farmers.
“We can’t give you cash. What we can do is offer help in the form of seeds, fertilizers and other planting materials. The officials are here and will gather and verify your information so we can start distributing the materials we have to the farmers, ”said Minister Mustapha.
In an effort to improve the country’s long-term drainage capacity, Minister Mustapha said his Ministry is working to develop a drainage system that can withstand the effects of climate change, which has resulted in increased rainfall in a short period of time. .
“As it stands now, there are many areas that are underwater because of the system we have at the moment. In some areas that do not have gravity flow, we have to use pumps and the pumps take a little longer than the sluice gate to draw the water. I am working to implement a system where we can get pumps and sluices operational. At low tide we use the sluice gate and at high tide we use the pumps so that we can have a 24 hour land drainage system. We know that Guyana is below sea level and that our drainage system can only drain one and a half to two inches of water in a 24 hour period. So when we record five and six and 10 inches of accumulated water due to heavy rainfall, imagine how long it would take to drain those systems. This is why it is vital that we have our drainage system working every 24 hours, ”said Minister Mustapha.
The subject Minister also said this year, the Ministry is planning to install a number of additional high capacity pumps for its fleet of drainage pumps.
“We are working to develop an overall structure that will improve our existing drainage system. This year, we are planning to install a number of new pumps across the country as we cannot rely on gravity drainage alone. With climate change having such an impact on the weather patterns, we have to prepare our system and get it operating to its full potential in the long term, especially as rainfall has become much more unpredictable , ”Said Minister Mustapha.
The weather has seen part of the concrete retaining wall in Windsor Forest sluice on the West Coast of Demerara damaged.
The Minister for Agriculture has since instructed the NDIA’s CEO and Board Chair to work on getting the structure installed as soon as possible.
A pump was also installed at Pouderoyen’s sluice, West Bank Demerara. (DPI)