As rice planters lament…
A CASH crop farmer, from Bounty Hall, reaped a bountiful harvest of watermelons from his farm at Cozier.
In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Carl Anthony Roberts, said his crop grew well under rainy conditions and the production was excellent.
He said the soil at Cozier is very fertile and ideal for vine plants, suckers, eddo, cassava, sweet potato and yams.
However, Roberts lamented the deplorable condition of the access dams to the Cozier farms.
He said he and other relatives had to fetch the watermelons, some weighing between 25 and 30 pounds each, in bags on their heads and walk on muddy roadways to load them on to a tractor and trailer.
Roberts said, if the dams are built for all weather conditions, agriculture production will tremendously increase because farmers will have easy access to transport for their produce.
The issue was raised at a meeting last Thursday, with Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud at Anna Regina Town Hall.
Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Farouk Khan, told the Minister that Cozier was never designed for rice farming but the grain is being planted there now, putting additional pressure on the drainage and irrigation network.
Another farmer, Puresh Kishore, from Somerset and Berks, also on Essequibo Coast, also called for the scheme to revert to other crops farming.
According to him, farmers currently planting rice at Cozier, are losing because the area is not suitable for that purpose.
Kishore said, when rice farmers get one good crop, they lose the next two either through drought or flooding.
The operations in the scheme are engaging the Minister’s Office.