RESIDENTS of the Upper Pomeroon in Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) have been told they could look forward to urgent action being taken to prevent the flooding of farmlands, even as steps are being taken to relocate them to higher ground. The source for their short-term relief is a $25M allocation to improve the river embankment and also to do essential drainage works for Upper Pomeroon villages, including Kabakaburi, St Monica’s and   Warapana, starting next week.

This commitment was made by Minister of Agriculture Mr. Robert Persaud when he paid a visit to villages along the river between Charity and Kabakaburi  yesterday.

The minister was accompanied by a team comprising Regional Chairman Mr. Alli Baksh, Vice Chairman Mr. Vishnu Samaroo, and Regional Engineer attached to the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Mr. Jafawn Permansingh, as well as General Manager of the New Guyana Marketing Corporation Mr. Nizam Hassan, and Deputy Director of the National Research and Extension Institute Mr. Basudeo Dwarka.

He made stops at Kabakaburi and Siriki where he listened to well-attended meetings when residents disclosed  problems affecting farmers and agricultural production as well as problems related to delivery of health and education services.

He addressed the problems related to agriculture and promised to refer others to the relevant Ministers.

He told residents that assessment of the river embankment and drainage improvement works should commence within the next ten days.

He advised that they see these works as a short term measure, a mere part of a long term plan to relocate them to higher ground.

“The reality is that there is a limit to what we can do in terms of lifting embankments and preventing flooding here. We know about the effects of climate change that are now taking place; and that is why we have gone for the option of developing lands and relocating farmers into the higher areas.”

The allocation of lands on higher ground in the villages of Warapana and Siriki will ensure that farmers who have been losing crops to flooding are able to cultivate with a greater sense of security.

He told residents that, plans for relocation have gone ahead to the extent that 150 acres of ten acre plots at Warapana and 200 acres of ten acre plots at Siriki have been fully surveyed, and the process of allocation should start as soon as certain preliminary processes are completed.

“I am happy to tell you that the surveys for these lands have been completed and that the ministry is now seeking to establish a broad based committee to discuss allocation which must include one representative of each of the two villages at the very least.”

Other members of the relocation committee will include a representative from the Region 2 Democratic Council , one from Lands and Surveys and one from the Ministry of Agriculture.

He said that this committee is expected to meet as early as Thursday next week to get the names of applicants, to evaluate them, and ensure that allocation is done in a fair, open, and transparent way.

“The recommendations will be taken by the Guyana Land and Surveys Commission to be processed for the leases; and in the meantime; those persons who have qualified will be given a letter so that they can commence occupation,” he said.

The higher ground plots in Warapana and Siriki include space for farmsteads.

Flood prevention works will also be undertaken at St. Martin, St. Monica and Karawab, other Upper Pomeroon Villages.

Minister Persaud stressed that these programmes are   taking place in the context of government’s commitment to ensuring that all residents are given the opportunity and the tools to develop themselves and improve their quality of life.

During the meetings at Kabakburi and Siriki, a number of residents attested to the rising levels of the river and the devastating effects on low lying farmlands.

One resident lamented, “When the rain falls and the river is high, there is no drainage. The water has nowhere to go and doesn’t go anywhere.”

Minister Persaud said he discerned that the short term plan for upgrading the river embankment in the upper Pomeroon, some drainage works by excavators, and then subsequent relocation would address most of the  issues raised by the farmers.

He told them that in their case, relocation was inevitable.

During the visit members of the team distributed seeds and pesticides to farmers.

Minister Persaud assured farmers of an increased frequency of visits by Agricultural Extension Officers, who would help them in production and productivity by teaching them improved methods of crop cultivation and pest control.

These officers are to be shortly equipped with a boat to enable them to be in the fields much more often than they have generally been, he said.

He also told residents, some of them from the lower Pomeroon, that they could also look forward to further assistance when the funds for the Low Carbon Development Strategy become available for disbursement.