FOOD and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative in Guyana, Dr. Lystra Fletcher-Paul, on Wednesday, launched the United Nations (UN) Water Country Brief for Guyana.

The diplomat did the formal handing over to Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who told those gathered that this country is among the top three in the world when it comes to water resources.
“We have access (if we can harness it) to water that is over 300,000 millimetres per capita, whilst most countries are dealing with per capita access of less than 10,000.
“For the rest of this month and next month, we would be busy pumping water and opening up the sluices to release a lot of good water into the sea and, few weeks after the rainy season is over, we would want the water back, But we cannot take it back, because now it would be filled with salt and other things,” Ramsammy pointed out.
He said the irony is that Guyana can go, instantly, from having too much water to not having enough and have both happening at the same time.
However, the minister urged the ministry’s staff to use the baseline document that will be regularly updated as part of having a strong data system to guide agriculture and water use in the country.
“So that the investors going into the Canje Basin, into the intermediate savannah can know what kinds of water needs they will have,” he said.
Ramsammy pointed out that Guyana has available, for agricultural purposes, almost four million hectares of land but is, at present, only utilising 500,000 hectares, of which, fewer than 200,000 benefit from drainage and irrigation.

CHALLENGE
Noting the importance of having water security, he said the truth is, that whilst the world faces this challenge, Guyana remains in a better position than the vast majority of countries, because of its abundance of water.
To make optimal use of agriculture land resources that the country is endowed with, outside of the enormous investment that is being made by Government as a public good, the minister said, there must be investment from other investors more so those in the private sector .
Meanwhile, Fletcher-Paul, in her remarks on the same occasion, said, up until now, there was no national level knowledge product that captures all water related sectors within one-brief.
She related that, moreover, the data is typically distributed among many sectors through the various UN and national agencies, hence there was no national overview of the water system in the country readily available, hence, the birth of the Water Country Briefs (WCBs) to fill the gap in the water knowledge pool.
She said that water is essential for life and used in all sectors of the economy, agriculture, health, energy, industry, manufacturing and environment.
As such Fletcher-Paul stated that because of this it is important to understand the amount of water available, the demand for it by the various sectors and the investment involved so it can be managed.

ABUNDANCE
She added that Guyana is known as the land of many waters and is fortunate to have an abundance of it year round but there are times and regions within where water resources are insufficient.
Fletcher-Paul said many countries are pumping more and national decision-makers and policy-making bodies need to have access to reliable information upon which to formulate strategies, policies and monitor information.
Outside of Guyana, WCBs have been produced for Bangladesh, Chile, Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Oman, Philippines, United Republic of Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia.
Guyana is one of an initial 13 countries that have benefitted from a profile study series the UN WCBs.
Implemented by the FAO-AQUASTAT programme, under the auspices of UN-Water and with financial support from the United States Department of State, the WCBs, in addition to providing an overview of the countries’ water system, is also designed to demonstrate the value of investments in water resources to policy makers.
Guyana is the only Caribbean beneficiary from the study in this original stage and the six-page brief presents the country’s water profile, water-related investment flows and evidence and analysis on the state of irrigated agriculture, drinking water and sanitation, environment and health energy, industry and water governance.
Also making remarks at the forum was National Consultant Zainool Rahaman and Permanent Secretary George Jervis of the Agriculture Ministry.

(By Michel Outridge)