The ideal place for large-scale farming and a quiet life

THIS week, we ventured into the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region (Region Three) to Canal Number One Polder. Stories by Michel Outridge and Shirley Thomas. Photos by Samuel Maughn.

HAVING lived all his life in the community of Canal Number One Polder, West Bank Demerara, Ramanand Prashad is serving his fellow villagers by acting as a counsellor to resolve disputes and other social issues among residents.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that he was born in the village and grew up there and when he became a Justice of Peace, people began to visit his home to seek advice, as well as to conduct document-related business.

Prashad has never refused anyone and is always up for a friendly chat, even though he is a full-time farmer who plants pineapples on a large scale on his 11 acres of land just behind his house, which runs deep into the savannah.

“I moonlight as a counsellor in mostly domestic disputes like if a neighbour cow damage a fence – people come here for recommendations, other document-related things and I assist,” he said.

Home of pineapples, jack fruit and ground provisions
Having retired in March, 2016, Prashad stated that he is farming full-time and on a large scale with crops of pineapples and ground provisions.

It is his choice of crops because sometimes during the rainy season, the land would be flooded and those crops unlike others can withstand the water accumulation for about a week.

He disclosed that with pineapples, after a week under water, one would just add some fertiliser and it would be as good as new.

Prashad doesn’t have to go out of the village to sell his produce because customers would come and make purchases of all his pineapples and ground provisions and all seasonal crops he is planting.

“I wholesale my pines to people who come and make the purchase right here; but what is needed is an open market for our produce because, for instance, the mangoes are plentiful when in season and it would spoil because there is no market for it and people with fruit juice businesses can buy it,” Prashad said.

The farmer reported that in their area they lack farming supplies such as seeds, because they have to source it themselves and sometimes they have to go out the village to do so, but they work with what they have.

He added that a little bit of resources can go a long way in assisting farmers to get the much-needed tools and equipment among other things.

Ramanand said, “A farmer is a patient man, who puts food on his table all around the world and they must be treated with respect, Not because you see an old man going into his farm with old clothes and a tattered hat means he is nothing. A farmer is a technical man who knows how much fertiliser he should put on his crops and when he can do it, because without fully understanding these things you can lose an entire crop just so by putting too much fertiliser.”

Canal Number Two Polder
Prashad stated that everything good and home-grown comes from Canal Number One Polder.
The village is home to more than 500 residents and life in that ‘neck of the woods’ is well, since almost everyone is independent and has his/her own business, he said.

The elderly man told the Pepperpot Magazine that country life is hassle-free, once you work, you can live comfortably.

Canal Number Two Polder has two primary schools, one secondary school and the Manram Memorial Health Centre which is fully staffed and also has a visiting doctor.

It is a farming community, the home of pineapples, jack fruit and ground provisions, since most people, who were into sugar cane production, reverted to seasonal crops as a result of falling prices of sugar cane.

Difficulties

When asked about the difficulties associated with living in Canal, the 66-year-old man told the Pepperpot Magazine that personally, he has none, but things are costly; as such, in that farming community they depend heavily on their produce to make ends meet in remaining financially viable.

He related that sometimes they do not have any need to go out of the village, since trucks with people who sell groceries and other things such as cooking gas and other commodities would pass through on a regular basis.

Prashad added that at the edge of the community, which has one main access road that stretches for about seven miles from the public road, they have a small general store which has building materials and other hardware items.

“You know Canal is a good place, very quiet place to live, we don’t have loud music problem and if we have a wedding, permission from the police is required to play between certain times. People in this village are close-knit, we are neighbourly and generally look out for each other, so much so, we don’t have a ‘bandit’ issue, but we do get some petty crimes such as ‘bottom house’ thieves,” he said.

Prashad stated that transportation is not a problem, because they have taxis and minibuses plying the route on a daily basis and some residents have their own vehicles; so all in all, this is the ideal place to live outside the city.

He disclosed that he was educated at Mc Gillivray Primary School and worked with the Ministry of Works for 23 years, then moved on to the then Office of the President (OP) for another 23 years as the project manager.

Today, Prashad devotes most of his time to his farm.

Youth concerns
The farmer said the youths in the village are left to their own devices because they don’t have employment and most of them are drop-outs.

With limited education, good jobs are hard to come by; that is why they need the interventions such as skills training, Prashad said.

He, however, admitted that some youths are working the land as farmers, while others don’t do anything and some have jobs outside the village.