AS flood waters impact cattle farmers at Black Bush Polder on the Corentyne, the authorities are concerned that persons may attempt to drain water by breaking the banks of empoldered areas, a situation which can destroy adjacent rice farms.

At the same time, government has refuted statements made by an opposition-aligned Region Six official, who stated that a shortage of fuel and lubricants has added to the flood woes faced by the region.

Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder, told the media during a post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday that the level of the Canje Creek has swollen and as such there is inundation at areas which are not affixed with drainage and irrigation infrastructure. Those areas include the Cookrite Creek Savannah, as well as the Sukhram Pasture, areas where there was no recorded history of floods.

“So the cattle population is in jeopardy”, Holder said, noting that an aerial surveillance has shown that there have not been much carcasses in the affected areas. He noted that the area cannot be drained into the swollen Canje Creek and he noted that engineers are on the ground assessing the situation. The Agriculture Minister said additional pumps have been sent to the location but he noted that this can prove problematic since the waters from the cattle lands can enter the rice lands, much to the detriment of the rice under cultivation. He said the situation is being observed since some cattle farmers may attempt to drain their pastures into the rice lands to arrest the situation.

Holder said the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has installed pumps at Lesbeholden, Numbers 46, 49 and 52 villages on the Corentyne to bring relief to the cattle farms. In addition, excavators are cleaning canals in the area. He said if there is no excessive rainfall over the next 3 to 4 days, the situation will improve.

Head of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Colonel (retired) Chabilall Ramsarup told the media at the press briefing that another area in Canje, the Baracara, is also affected by flood waters. He said 3000 to 5000 heads of cattle are at that location. Ramsarup recounted that during the 2005 floods, grass from along the coastland was cut and transported to the affected locations by raft. However, he noted that an aerial assessment of the situation at the moment, such as one undertaken at the Cookrite Savannah has indicated that the situation would be “a harder nut to crack” in terms of ferrying grass to feed the affected cattle. Ramsarup suggested that mounds be built at the areas in future as a preventative measure.

Meanwhile, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, in response to queries on whether opposition aligned Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC’s) may be sabotaging infrastructure in Region Six, noted that he does not know of any credible information, nor at the level of the Cabinet. Harmon refuted statements made by a regional official who is aligned to the Opposition. The official noted that some of pumps were not functioning because the government has cut the budget for that agency. “Clearly this is a serious bit of propaganda by the regional official from the Peoples Progressive Party”, Harmon said.
He read budgetary information from the Finance Ministry and noted that Agency 76, the East Berbice/ Corentyne was allocated $309,773,000 in the 2017 national budget. He said to date $58,463,000 was spent, and a balance of $251,309,000 has been unspent. He said that under the maintenance of drainage and irrigation infrastructure, the region was allocated a sum of $257M and to date $78M was spent by the regional administration. Harmon added too, that under the public works programme agenda, an allocation of $5M was made under fuel and lubricants and to date $898,000 was spent by the region.

“So that when these regional officials seek to give the impression that it was a lack of resources provided by the Central government that was causing this problem , the figures tell a different story”, Minister Harmon noted. He said the people of Region Six should understand that the leaders of the region must act in accordance with their respective responsibilities rather than political undertakings.