THE Airy Hall breach and flooding of the Cozier canal areas due to negligence by the regional administration has taken its toll on the Region 2 rice industry with some 32,500 acres which were cultivated for the first crop of 2014. Of the 32,500 acres which have been sown, between 5,000 to 8,000 acres would be lost because of the lack of proper administration and monitoring of the main canal embankment and regulators. The assessment of the affected acreages is now being carried out by Extension staff of the Guyana Rice Producer’s Association and Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) staff indicated that there would be heavy losses.The areas most affected are Airy Hall and Cozier Canal. This would result in the loss of export earnings and every effort would have to be made to catch up on the short–fall in the first crop during the second crop of 2014,In order to achieve this, some assistance will have to be given to the affected farmers. The main problem facing rice farmers here in Region 2 has been the lack of proper monitoring of the main canal regulators, maintenance of the dam and the water level in the canal due to long rainy seasons. A transparent and efficient regulatory system is essential to ensure that farmers’ crops are protected.

The Ministry of Agriculture should have some emergency measures put in place to alleviate the flooding problems and the supply of irrigation water under a schedule to farmers served by the Tapakuma conservancy.

Flooding of farmers crops are often an underlying cause of conflict, especially in protracted crises, and are therefore central to planning a response. Equally, flooding out of farmers crops tend to increase conflict with government and farmers, yet the regional administration largely neglect these wider issues on the basis that they are too complex and politically sensitive.

Decision–makers of the rice industry should seek to engage their efforts and tend to focus and encourage small rice farmers to increase their incomes which would improve their quality of life. When their field is flooded by man-made disasters, duckweed can smother the young rice, thus leaving large acreage in the field without rice plants.

It also competes with the rice plants for space and nutrients, reducing tillers and ultimately grain yield.

When the rice crop is flooded out through negligence on behalf of the administration, duckweed becomes uncontrollable and the populations produce rhizomes which infest the soil, thus creating potential problems for subsequent crops. However, the strong wind of change over the years, the government has made massive investment in the rice sector. The billions of dollars spent on pumps, drainage and irrigation systems malfunction and operate inefficiently because of proper management suffering the poor rice farmers who are toiling under harsh and back-breaking methods of production.
The rice industry remains the nation’s largest employer. It provides billions of dollars to farmers, employees and to suppliers of goods and services to the industry. The loss of such huge acreages of rice would be a disaster to the nation and the economy if the industry keeps flooding.

MOHAMED KHAN
Former Rice Extension Officer