Disbursement of flood relief planting supplies in progress
– Ramsammy reports
THE Ministry of Agriculture is continuing its efforts to assist the farming community and is in the process of distributing planting materials and other supplies to farmers.
The distribution exercise will begin in the areas most severely affected by recent flooding, Minister with the portfolio, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy announced. Speaking during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, at his Ministry on Regent Road, Georgetown, he said Government is not in a position to compensate people financially for their losses but will proceed with interventions to mitigate the impact of the floods.
“We have already procured veterinary supplies, as we anticipate there will be problems with animals feeding on grass with infected soil. The farmers need help, so veterinarians will also be providing technical support and they have been deployed since last week in Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary (MMA), because these areas are where most of the animals are found. We will then move to other parts of the country,” Ramsammy stated.
He announced that some 200 packages of veterinary supplies have been disbursed to the MMA and this relief will continue throughout affected places countrywide.
Ramsammy said, in addition, the Ministry will be intensifying action to ensure that drainage infrastructure is maintained and remain operational in the event of continued heavy rains.
According to him, “A combination of several timely interventions by the Ministry of Agriculture and a period of good weather have resulted in most of the flood-affected areas being returned to normalcy. Every outfall and drain must be cleared. Where sluice doors are giving problems, the authorities need to rectify this and make sure pumps are in working order. We must also ensure that we improve our dams, so our empoldering works must continue.”
Continuing initiative
He reminded of a continuing initiative to aid farming communities, by improving and maintaining drainage systems.
Ramsammy, who recalled that former President Bharrat Jagdeo had initiated a programme through which additional excavators were purchased to help farmers work on their lands, said that will continue, but in a more organised and balanced way to benefit all the farmers in priority areas.
The Minister said each farmer will be a beneficiary of two full days of work on their plots after the excavator would have cleared all the main drainage canals in their area. However, they will then be required to pay for any extra day required.
Ramsammy said the fact that some persons endured significant losses during the floods, including their investments in agriculture, must be acknowledged.
He agreed that the biggest losers were cash crop farmers, who are, presently, being offered technical support.
Ramsammy lauded the actions of many valiant rice farmers in affected communities, who managed to save most of their cultivations.
He said: “Whilst I acknowledge that the Government and other authorities did a good job, it was a harrowing battle by the rice farmers of Guyana. Some had empoldered their properties before and incurred massive expenses in pumping out water. We all must salute the rice farmers who protected their crops at great expense. This is to the benefit of all Guyanese.”
Ramsammy said, as a result of what was done by them, rice crops lost, through flooding, were minimal across the country.
Alluding to the effects of the weather conditions otherwise, the Minister noted that the livestock rearers were also successful in reducing their losses but said subsistence farmers would have been mostly affected.
“What we lost in livestock would have been small farmers’ chicks and that is why there is no impact on the market. The supply and demand is governed by the big farmers. We must acknowledge that subsistence farmers along the coast were affected and we need to address those. Every farmer expects the Government to stand by them. They all will acknowledge that the Government has always provided some support and that is not going to be different this time around,” he affirmed.
In this regard, he pledged that the administration will continue helping farmers and improving the relief system.
Minister Ramsammy observed that, while the water moved off the land speedily in residential communities, it was challenging trying to move it from the farming areas, since the onset of La Nina weather conditions along the Coast, in Regions 2 (Pomeroon /Supenaam), 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), 4 (Demerara/Mahaica),5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne), as well as other parts of the country.
About meeting the related challenges, he said: “I am now in a position to say that hard hit communities were Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary, Canal Polders-Numbers One and Two; Black Bush Polder, Pomeroon and Parika Back. However, most of these communities have now returned to normalcy.”