By Michel Outridge

THIS week the Pepperpot Magazine visited Blairmont Village, West Bank Berbice,which is home to mostly sugar workers, a handful of fishermen and cash-crop farmers.

Blairmont is sandwiched between Ithaca and Rosignol villages, with the latter being the central point for business.

Blairmont is divided into four settlements, that and a housing scheme, Zorg-en-Hoop.

The community has many shops and restaurants, a Mandir, a Mosque and several churches.

Cash crops produced from Blairmont are sold to wholesalers and are also retailed at the Rosignol Market.

Blairmont has a population of about 2,400 residents of predominantly Indo-Guyanese and a few Afro-Guyanese and it is home of the Blairmont Sugar Estate, which employs most of the villagers.

Blairmont Sugar Estate is one of three surviving sugar estates and the people of Blairmont depend heavily on it for their livelihoods.

Upon entering the Blairmont Sugar Estate main access road, the Pepperpot Magazine encountered a group of men-employees of the estate.

Ameer Khan was part of the group attached to the “Spray Gang” and it was just approaching midday when they made their way out of the cane fields after spraying various chemicals to prevent weeds from growing on the cane lands.

The 29-year-old explained that they are usually divided into groups of seven and they go into the vast cane fields owned by the estate and with the use of different chemicals, they walk through the cane beds and spray.

He added that they gain access to the cane fields via the sideline dams and most days they start early before the place gets hot and try to finish their task by noon.

Khan reported that all chemicals are mixed in the cane fields and depending on the weed growth, they would spray adequately.

The father of one related that they had covered 21 acres that day and are paid weekly.

Khan is from Cotton Tree, a few villages away and would commute via the estate trucks which would transport them daily to and from their homes to the estate.

“We work different locations within the estate’s cultivation and we would have our meals before we start spraying, because we have to maintain safe practices to safeguard ourselves,” he said.

The sugar worker stated that they are provided annually with all safety gears, including suits, gloves, long boots, hats, respirators, goggles, face masks and umbrellas.

Khan reported that the “Spray Gang” work is not easy, but he does it anyway, because being married he has to provide for his family, even if it entails hard manual labour.

He is one of many sugar workers who would come from nearby villages for work in the community of Blairmont, alongside villagers.

Khan, however, explained that not all sugar workers are cane-cutters and it is not degrading work; in fact, they are a group of skilled workers who perform certain tasks and collectively, they produce sugar from locally grown cane.