The goal of having more lands under cultivation in Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Region Six, is being achieved as construction and rehabilitation of irrigation structures and access roads to farmlands in the area are progressing.

Senior Civil Engineer, Frederick Flatts of the Agriculture Sector Development Unit ,inspecting the bridge under construction at Number Five Canal in Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Region Six.

Saturday a team including consultants, contractors, representatives of the area’s Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), and the Crabwood Creek Water Users Association visited the area to inspect the projects and update the media on their progress.

Works in the area which fall under the Ministry of Agriculture/Agriculture Support Services Programme (ASSP) are valued at over $308M, and include the rehabilitation of two main outfall sluices, cleaning of five road culverts along the main road, and the construction of six secondary head regulators and six secondary canal regulators.

The regulators will ensure that the irrigation command level both down and up stream of the structure is guaranteed. The structure also has the capacity to apply a cheaper option of irrigating by gravity.

Additionally, the rehabilitation of 51 kilometers of roads and six bridges are in the process of being constructed to decrease the length of time taken by farmers to access their farmlands, thereby reducing the cost of production. The latter process has already commenced.

The secondary irrigation regulator under construction at Number Five Canal in Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Region Six.

The programme has as its main objective providing impetus for farmers to expand cultivation of rice and other crops in the Crabwood Creek area.

Project Consultant Ravi Narine said that in the initial phase, the availability and proper utilisation of water was one of the main limitations which the projects will seek to correct.

Since its initiation in July, the farmers, through the Water Users Association, were empowered to play an integral role in the decision making process. Five months have since elapsed and work on most of the structures has reached about 30 percent.

“This area will be transformed into a more cost effective area of cultivating agricultural produce, through the intervention of these structures and canals,” Narine said.

Narine pointed out that the law within the NDIA Act on tampering with structures still stands, though such illegal acts are not as rampant as in the past, because of the success in the D&I rehabilitation programme from which many farmers are benefiting.

With a farming population in the Crabwood Creek area of over 1000, Regional Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha said the goal of making more lands available is being accomplished as more farmers are gravitating to the area.

He recalled that about two years ago, a mere 500 to 700 acres of rice lands were under cultivation. Today, this number has climbed to about 35,00 acres and with Crabwood Creek possessing a total agriculture land mass of about 4,000 acres, he is confident that by another year all the lands will be occupied.

Additionally, cash crop cultivation in the area has increased significantly in the last two years, with close to about 3,000 acres under cultivation.

The plan to place the Crabwook Creek Water Users Association at the forefront of the project was welcomed by its Secretary Krishenchund Raman, who noted that such a move has resulted in the project progressing so far.

He said evidence of progress can be witnessed with several farmers traversing the area on motorcycles and other modes of transportation, a task which was impossible via these means in the past.

The work being undertaken in the Crabwood Creek area is just one component of other major works being undertaken at Vergenogen/Bonasika, Den Amstel/Fellowship, Vreed-en-Hoop/La Jalousie and Golden Grove/Victoria.

Chief Executive Officer of NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth, said a major rehabilitation project of about 76 miles of canals and drains commenced last year, while another 30 miles will be completed by March next year.

He added that to complement efforts to make agricultural lands available in Region Six, drainage works are at present ongoing in Moleson Creek where about 12,000 acres of land are going under cultivation.