— MMA/ADA says money needed for vital services

THE cash-strapped Mahaica Mahaicony Abary/ Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) will be unable to prevent losses by farmers caused by unmaintained and deteriorating Drainage and Irrigation (D&I) systems this crop.
According to the authority, things will only change unless the beneficiaries of the project pay up outstanding debts.

The warning was issued by the General Manager Aubrey Charles during a recent open-day event hosted by the MMA/ADA in observance of Agricultural Month.
Speaking at the open day event, Charles reported that payments by farmers for the services rendered to them by the MMA/ADA this year to date was 11 per cent of the target for 2018.

“Farmers have been complaining about the condition of the secondary drains and canals but we are cash-strapped and unable to do much,” he said.
He mentioned, as an example of the precariousness state of the D&I infrastructure, the situation during the last crop where the MMA/ADA main road before the main canal had deteriorated to the extent that it became impassable.

“We have managed to repair that stretch of road but the materials ran out and the road is incomplete. But what was done was done to such a stage that farmers could traverse easily but once the rainy weather starts within another month or so, it will be devil of a job to traverse that section of the road.”

He stressed that the beneficiaries must appreciate that the 11 per cent collection rate is extremely low and appealed to those who benefit from the D&I services to visit the authority as a payment plan can be worked out.

The MMA/ADA is responsible for the operation and maintenance of 784 miles of drainage and irrigation canals; 381 structures, including kokers, sluices, bridges, aqueducts and regulators and four pump stations. A total of 169,878 acres of land are utilised for agricultural purposes. The MMA/ADA received $357 million from central government in 2017 since the then existing D&I rates and land rent charges were too low to enable it to recover its operating costs.

The MMA/ADA subsequently increased its D&I rates from $2,500 to $8,000 per acre and the rental of lease lands from $1,000 per acre to $7,000 per acre.
The increases sparked protests from rice farmers and there are those who believe that the low rates of payment may have caused the increases. Officials however, noted that several farmers had been defaulting even before the increases.

Despite the low rates of payment to the MMA/ADA, farmers utilising its D&I resources produce 48 per cent of the paddy harvested in 2017 and up to late last month, 43 per cent of the paddy produced nationally for 2018.

Charles reported that notwithstanding the constraints, the MMA/ADA over the past year managed to complete empoldering approximately 800 acres of land for cattle rearing in the upper reaches of the Perth Biaboo Canal.

Similar works within the Abary/ Mahaicony area and to a lesser extent in the Abary Berbice area were done where the authority brought 400 acres of land under production.