THE Ministry of Agriculture is preparing to launch the ‘Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development (RAID)’ project which will benefit four ‘small-scale farming communities in Regions Four and Five, through a Government of Guyana/CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) initiative.

Project Coordinator within the Agriculture Sector Development Unit (ASDU), Khemlall Alvin told the Guyana Chronicle in an interview that since the deal has been sealed by CDF and government through Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, the Ministry of Agriculture now awaits approval of the tender board for design consultant for projects to be executed in the communities of Buxton, East Coast Demerara (ECD), Triumph, also on the ECD, Mocha East Bank Demerara (all in Region Four) and Ithaca West Berbice (Region Five).

In October 2016 government and CDF had requested proposals from qualified consultants for consultancy services for engineering design of works, rehabilitation of drainage and irrigation systems (earthworks, structures and access dams) for the communities of Itacha, Buxton and Triumph.

Buxton farmers had complained that poor drainage and irrigation greatly hinder agricultural development in the backlands, owned and operated by the Grantees through a grant from their ancestors. The Guyana Marketing Corporation had also said farmers in the community are hindered from producing marketable amounts due to failures in the drainage system.

“Hopefully (we) will be ready to start soon,” Alvin told the Guyana Chronicle recently.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that six firms answered the calls of government and submitted proposals for the project. Bids for the design and supervision services were submitted by Beston Consulting Limited in Association with C.B & Associates Inc., E & A Consultants Inc., Innovative Engineering Services, Massy Wood Group, ‘SRKN’ Engineering, and Caribbean Engineering and Management Consultants Inc.

The Ministry of Agriculture will oversee the project after the approval of ‘consultancy services for design and supervision’ by the tender board, with ensuring priority works for rehabilitation of drainage and irrigation systems and access dams, and institutional strengthening in the two regions, through the CDF loan.

The CDF grant will also be used to purchase heavy duty equipment to facilitate the rehabilitation works, and for the procurement of equipment and monitoring and evaluation of the project.

The estimated cost of the project is US$12,432,236, which is equivalent to G$2,548,608,380. The CDF will finance 83.9% of the project cost. The government of Guyana will also contribute 16.1 percent of the total project cost, which will be assigned to management and operations of the three-year project, the Guyana Chronicle understands.
The ‘Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development (RAID) in Small Scale Farming Communities in Regions Four and Five (Ithaca, Buxton, Triumph and Mocha)’ document revealed that the project is expected to increase incomes and reduce unemployment in the targeted farming communities.

Access to farming lands and necessary support services to ensure success in agriculture in the communities will be provided, through the rehabilitation of drainage and irrigation systems and access dams, construction of 155 km of canals and drains with new and rehabilitated structures and 40 km of fair weather dam.

A pump station will also be constructed at Mocha, and approximately 2500 acres of land will be cleared for cultivation, with the expectation of some 1500 acres of land being cultivated with crops and more than 175 farmers having access to planting materials and improved breed of livestock by December, 2018.

A complete survey of the areas of Buxton, Mocha, Triumph and Ithaca will also be done to establish the areas’ agricultural ‘scope baseline’.

The document states that Itacha will see the rehabilitation of drainage and irrigation systems through “the excavation and cleaning of all canals and drains around the 600 Acres of identified lands, construction of drainage and irrigation systems, (and) clearing of approximately 600 acres of land.”

In Buxton, seven canals and drains up to crown dam will be cleaned and excavated, while new drainage and irrigation structures will be constructed to regulators along the CNC to regulate water supply, and approximately 800 acres of land will be cleared for cultivation or livestock development.

Each of the canals and drains around the 600 acres of land identified in Triumph will be cleared through excavation and while any other structures within the area’s drainage system will be fixed, some 500 acres of land will also be cleared for cultivation or livestock development.

Apart from a pump station being constructed next to the existing sluice at Mocha, East Bank Demerara, 50 acres of land will be set aside and prepared for the establishment of a pasture, approximately 800 acres of land will be cleared and canals and drains will be cleaned and excavated from Mocha, all the way up to the Lamaha Canal, the Ministry of Agriculture said.