Corentyne rice farmers are appealing for urgent help to save a crop
Kaieteur News-Farmers from across the Corentyne Coast gathered yesterday on two separate occasions to engage with Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha as they sought urgent intervention to save their crop.
Persistent rainfall over recent weeks has made many dams impossible, leaving many farmers struggling to transport their paddy from the fields. In some cases, farmers have been unable to reap some of their crops because their fields have been flooded.
Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha during his address
At the first meeting, at Primary # 48, Corentyne, rice farmers appealed to the subject Minister to take immediate action so that they could save the rest of their crop.
One farmer, Mahendranauth Doolchand, said some parts of the dam, which he uses to transport his baddy, are in a pitiful state, stopping the transport of his baddy from the field.
“Sir, we have over 200 acres of land, but the land is under water, and we can’t have the paddy removed. All we want is for you to repair the dam so we can take the paddy out. We are from Village No. 69 … We have to travel 14 miles to get there and bring out the paddy. Some parts of the dam are very bad. We need your help urgently because, in five days, four half tanks of Paddy can’t reach out again, ”said Doolchand.
Another farmer, Anand Tulsi, said he lost millions of dollars in paddy and sought the Minister’s help to save the rest of his crop.
“We small farmers cannot bring one bag out. The dam situation is appalling. Rice that had been cutting since the first week of March left there and decayed all out. We need help. At the moment, we need some help. We need a machine to repair the dams so we can bring out our paddy, ”said the farmer.
Meanwhile, farmers in Maida raised similar issues at the second meeting.
One farmer said tractors could not cross the dam to carry the paddy because of the dam’s condition. Another said, work needs to be done on the ditch and dam in her area.
After listening to the farmers, Minister Mustapha undertook to carry out work on all the dams in need of repair.
The Minister said, “Before the rain came, we spent a lot of money repairing the dams, and we’re going to repair them again. I have a request from the Chair of Water Consumers for funding to repair some 10 dams in areas No. 52 / No. 74. I will approve this, and through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), we will have work underway to re-establish ‘ r those dams as soon as tomorrow. I will also ask the NDIA to make an urgent assessment of those other dams that need to be installed, and we will assign machines for repair. “
Over in Maida, Minister Mustapha told farmers that a team from the Ministry would be visiting the area today to meet residents.
Kaieteur News understands that a small committee will be formed to look at all the canals and dams that need rehabilitation. The subject Minister publicly committed to getting the job done and ensuring that farmers benefit from appropriate infrastructure.