VALERIE Adams-Yearwood, Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture with responsibility for Rural Affairs, during the week, assured residents of the small farming community of Ithaca in Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) that all the concerns that they have about their Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development (RAID) Project will be quickly resolved.

The assurance was given during a meet the community meeting held by the minister on Monday last. The main issues raised were the need for timely access to the machinery assigned to the Ithaca RAID project so as to expedite cleaning of pasture lands, replenishing of vegetation in the pasture, planting of grass there and cleaning of canals and outfall drains, and rehabilitation of dams that had become impassable due to the rains.

Members of the society said that as they understood it, three machines were acquired for the co-op but these were being taken away intermittently by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and the co-op was not benefitting from their use. The minister assured that she will meet with the Agricultural Support Development Unit of (ASDU) of the Ministry of Agriculture which is overseeing the project and officials of the Ithaca Co-op society within the next 10 days to resolve the issues.

Meanwhile, during the meeting residents rebuffed claims that their members were willing to apply for individual leases on the co-op land. “We remain firm in our desire to remain members of the co-operative. We will not allow anyone to lure us into an eventual disintegration of the co-operative,” Secretary Pierre Williams said.

During the meeting, Head of the ASDU, Mr. George Jervis, admitted that members of the ASDU had been encouraging some members of the co-operative society to apply for individual leases. He however denied that this was intended to break up the co-operative.

He said that in his view, application for individual leases would not necessarily lead to disintegration of the co-op, but would merely expedite the clarification of land ownership required by the CARICOM Development Fund which is funding the RAID project at Ithaca.

Chairman of the Society, Mr. Desmond Weekes, however, assured the minister that the required surveys for the ownership had been completed and a plan was being prepared for urgent submission to the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) for approval and validation of their ownership of the land.