—-and for post crisis period as well
GOVERNMENT, in continuing efforts to deal with the current El Nino phenomenon, will be injecting $258M more for a range of current interventions as well as the post crisis period.
This announcement was made by President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday when he met with farmers in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam), to discuss the current situation and to listen to their concerns and suggestions.
Speaking at his first meeting at the 8th May Community School in Dartmouth Village on the Essequibo Coast, he acknowledged that farmers are experiencing severe difficulties at this time.
“I just want to assure you that the Government remains cognizant of the difficulties that you are facing, and that the entire apparatus of the Government is focused on bringing as much relief as is humanely possible to our people right across Guyana”, he said.
He observed that the impact of the unique weather condition is severe, and it has taken a toll, not just on crops, but on livestock and even people’s way of life, with some communities having difficulties with drinking water, particularly, in the Amerindian communities in some of the regions.
He assured that ‘there is a full scale effort’ by the Government to bring relief to people, and funds have been dedicated to the efforts which are very costly, such as pumping water or transporting water for long distances.
To this end, he disclosed, “The Minister of Agriculture just brought an additional document to the Cabinet to seek support for intervention in several areas for cash crop farmers and for farmers generally.
He explained that he was informed by Minister of Housing and Water that it could cost as much as $90,000 to transport one load of water into some of these communities.
President Jagdeo noted this is a huge challenge, and pointed out that the intervention also deals with livestock.
“So we have just decided to give him $258M so he can continue in this period, and in the near term to continue to bring relief to people, and this is in addition to money that we are spending on an ongoing basis,” he reminded.
He noted that some will also benefit the Essequibians, noting, “Many of those things were not anticipated when we did the budget so this will be money that we will have to find in addition to the budgetary expenditure to address the crisis.”
He warned, “We will continue to experience variability in weather” and it is important that “we use periods like these to emerge stronger with better management of resources and enhanced capability for dealing with problems and difficulties.”
He said the country has over different periods faced different types of challenges and at the national level, in the initial period, there was the challenge of “restoring our country from a state of bankruptcy to a functioning State”, which took a long time.
“But collectively – the people and the Government – we dealt with that, and because we have dealt with that, our ability to spend has increased significantly,” he remarked, alluding to notable investments in the health sector and the education sector.
President Jagdeo also underscored that Region Two itself had many challenges at the beginning, in the area of electricity and roads.
He stressed, “We face now a new set of challenges that our country needs to rise to if we are not going to allow these challenges to affect our lives in the next five, ten, fifteen years and the lives of our children.”
At this point, he noted that this challenge has to do with the impact of weather and climate on our way of life with rising sea levels and variable unpredictable weather.
“So how do we emerge from this period, thinking about how we would resolve these issues in the future? We started looking at the whole issue of water and irrigation,” he stated, referring to the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary (MMA) area situation with many people suffering from floods for many years. To this the Government embarked on an over $3B project to bring relief to them, and now “trying to deal with managing too little water”.
“But clearly this Government is very concerned about this, and is prepared to make the investments…so that we can better control water,” he maintained.
He said, “We have to constantly keep this as one of our major development priorities”, for the country is growing and expanding, one of the few countries in the entire region that recorded positive growth rate last year.
“I think, the momentum that we have started because of some policies is hard to reverse now; but there are some challenges that will confront us. We have to ensure that the entire apparatus of the Government is geared towards resolving these challenges so as to minimise the impact on people,” he explained.
To this end, he noted that farmers, too, would have to be very much aware of these challenges, and he urged them to stay focused on these things.
He went on, “Because if you are more knowledgeable about these challenges, and how they affect you, not just at the global or national level, but in your particular communities, then I think you would be able to make better decisions too.”
He said a whole series of interventions have to be looked at, ranging from drought resistant crops to saline water crops, and dealing with better management of the coast with the spending of some $1B on a mangrove project.
He also urged residents to be familiar with what is being done in their region, such as the budgetary allocations, which have been growing significantly over the years.
“If you know the budget then you can hold the regional administration to greater accountability,” President Jagdeo maintained.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, in brief remarks, said there are teams across the country going out to rice and other crops farmers.
He reminded that sometime in August and September last year, his ministry issued an alert that “we were heading into an El Nino condition.”
He said during the last quarter of 2009, the ministry had commenced a number of plans, both at the regional and central levels, with stakeholders to come up with arrangements that could be put in place to better manage the situation, including water management techniques, and resources to be mobilized.
He said nationally, there have been number of technical teams working and supporting the different regions, including Region Two.
He noted that farmers had expressed concerns about the level of water management by the region and its authorities, and the ministry committed to boost the capacity of the region working closely with the farmers.
“Because we recognise that farmers themselves can play a critical role in ensuring that the interventions we make are effective, but moreso in terms of monitoring”.
He told the gathering of instances of farmers complaining that due to the actions of others, they are disadvantaged.
He said the approach taken is one which involves the rice farmers in terms of the monitoring and even implementing the interventions.
He reminded that over a year ago Government invested close to $400M and put in place the new Dawa pumps which were malfunctioning for decades; and if there was no forward planning by the administration – there could have been a crisis.
“Those persons who are in charge of the operation of our pumps and our systems have to car
ry out their functions in accordance to the guidelines that are issued, ” he urged.
He said a number of new waterways were opened and they are also looking at additional water sources for those areas that require water for cultivation, adding that harvesting has commenced.
However, he noted that although the rice industry is the most vulnerable, given the way in which rice is planted and cultivated, these interventions are looking at supporting other crop farmers as well.
The issues expressed by farmers related to water management, farmers assistance, issues relating to the Water Users Association, among other community-related concerns.
The President and the team, which also included Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad, and Regional Chairman Mr. Ali Baksh, also held an interactive meeting with farmers who voiced their concerns at the Anna Regina Multilateral School.