THE National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and the Regional Administration in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) are currently excavating several drainage canals on the right bank of Supenaam Creek, to make thousands of acres of fertile virgin land available for farming.
NDIA Engineer, Mr. Javaun Permansingh said 25 per cent of the $9M project has been completed and, when it is all done, 33 cash crop farmers will benefit from better drainage and access more land.
Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Robert Persaud visited the Supenaam Creek area recently and convened a community meeting with farmers, where the contract for desilting the canals was signed between Government and the contractor, Mr. Kaydar Persaud.
Over the years, planters did not have proper drainage and, many times, their farms were flooded during rainy seasons.
However, with the waterways being desilted, many who had abandoned their cultivations are now restarting them.
Meanwhile, the Regional Administration has started preparation of access dams in the rice growing areas of Aberdeen and Columbia, also on Essequibo Coast.
Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Permanand Persaud, who lives in Columbia, told the Guyana Chronicle the crop is ready to be harvested in the two villages after a one week delay due to adverse weather conditions.
He said the work could not have been done before to facilitate transport of paddy from the fields to factories because of the continuous heavy rainfall in past weeks.
A group of farmers met Regional Chairman, Mr. Alli Baksh yesterday morning to raise concern over the state of the dams.
Baksh, immediately, consulted with officials of the Waters Users Association (WUA) and $400,000 wee released to fix the dams.