-Minister Persaud, team inspect critical Region Three D & I structures
Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud and a team from his Ministry, along with Region Three Chairman Julius Faerber, and President, Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), Komal Chand, conducted an inspection yesterday of critical drainage and irrigation structures in preparation for the anticipated mid-year rainfall.
Inspections were conducted in several key areas, including  Canal No.1 Polder, Parfaite/Harmonie, Leonora intake structure and Two Mouth (location within Boerasirie conservancy), Region Three.

Minister Persaud said that the visit to the region was two-fold since it is part of the outgoing programmes to provide measures to improve irrigation.
He noted that as a result of the El Niño condition, the situation is much more acute in the region and the Ministry has been expending a lot of resources to dig new water channels and install two new pumps at Two Mouth.
As a result of these interventions, the Ministry has been able to minimize the impact and is constantly looking at additional measures that can be made to bring support and relief, Minister Persaud stated.
The Agriculture Minister also highlighted that plans are being made for the rainy season. Regular checks and interaction with farmers, and monitoring of works are being done by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA)

“We are dealing with a drought-like condition and we have had to bring water from close to 100 miles…moving water to the areas where there is need. It is quite laborious…in terms of the resources…It is also part of the contingency plan we had in place so that we can minimize effects and bring some relief,” Minister Persaud added
Chief Executive Officer, NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth noted that since there was no end of year rainfall, the conservancy and fresh water resources have depleted tremendously and this has put a lot of pressure on the irrigation system and the conservancy.
“We have seen the levels dropping tremendously and this has been since December last year. Up until now we had to take various measures and interventions,” he said.
The CEO highlighted that two pumps have been placed at Bonasika to pump fresh water into the conservancy and at Two Mouth where there are temporary stop-offs to pump water into the service channel that goes to the field through the irrigation head regulators.
These interventions, he said had to be made since the water level was low and was not passing through the head regulators.
“The work here has helped tremendously in terms of mitigating the impacts of the prolonged dry season,” Wordsworth stated.
In addition, Wordsworth pointed out that an irrigation canal at Canal No. 1 Polder will be resuscitated with additional structures. This will be done at an approximate cost of about $1.5M. (GINA)