-surveys completed
AGRICULTURE Minster Robert Persaud has said the cadastral surveys are completed in Siriki, Region Two (Pomeroon/ Supenaam), and farmers can expect to have their applications for agricultural plots processed soon. At a meeting with stakeholders at the Anna Regina Town Hall last Friday, the minister noted that the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) is expected to meet with the Lands and Survey Commission to get the process going.

Under the Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Development (READ) Project, support was promised by the current administration to clear 10-acre plots for farmers in select communities to advance agricultural activity in Siriki.
Persaud pointed out that this was in a move to relocate farmers who were vulnerable to climate change.
Siriki is a small community at the end of the Siriki Creek, which extends approximately one mile in from the Pomeroon River.
Farmers in the area are part of the Siriki Farmers’ Group which, when the Guyana Chronicle visited in November last year, showed off a laudable dynamism in their endeavours as a group.
The community, ‘New Haven Siriki’, is small, with about 70 households.
Persaud stressed that climate smart agriculture is the way to go and rather than have farmers continue in the areas they operated, new lands are being developed to promote this new concept.
In the agriculture sector, the minister contends that the effects of climate change have and continue to impact negatively on production, exasperating existing challenges.

Climate Refugees
The minister described the farmers as “climate refugees,” pointing out that they had to abandon their activities because of the location of their farms adversely affected because of climate change.
He added that this undertaking, a move to higher ground, is similar to the moves being made in Warapana and Onderneeming, both in Region Two, where farming in less vulnerable areas is being facilitated.
A point to note is that the improvement of land administration institutions to effectively execute land policies is one of the objectives of the National Development Strategy, with specific emphasis on Agriculture Land Policy.
Agriculture Field Assistant in Region Two, with responsibility for communities along the Pomeroon River, Mr. Cleveland Kellawan, told the Guyana Chronicle that several plots have been demarcated and farmers are waiting for leases to expand their activities and, in other cases, to start up cultivation.
“Pomeroon has about 1,800 farmers …with the support they can do well,” he said.
Other interventions planned for Region Two include a $20M sluice at La Belle Alliance, a $10M timber revetment, and the purchase of a $50M pontoon to assist in maintaining the outfall in the region.