– drainage and irrigation, markets for produce among issues to be rectified

By Naomi Parris

FARMERS from the East Coast Demerara villages of Victoria, Nabaclis and Golden Grove will benefit from improved drainage and irrigation, and a number of agriculture projects following a meeting with Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha on Thursday.
The meeting, which was held at the Nabaclis Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), saw farmers from the three villages voicing their daily struggles in their respective farmlands to the minister.

Calls were made for issues regarding drainage and irrigation, markets for produce, infrastructure, accessibility to dams and heavy machinery to be addressed during the meeting.
Geodfrey Henry, a farmer from Nabaclis, expressed some concerns with regards to the pump station in the area that has been dormant for many years. The farmer, who was the former chairman of the Nabaclis Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), said the rehabilitation of the said pump station will bring great relief to farmers in Nabaclis and other surrounding areas.

“There is a pumping station there that has been idle for the past 20 years; this is a main drainage area, and I will be asking you and your engineers at a future date to have a look at that. It is important that we have that pump reinstalled and rehabilitated for the future,” Mr. Henry said, adding: “That will ease drainage problems within the Nabaclis, Golden Grove and Cove and John area.”
Another farmer, Kurt Elias, who hails from Victoria, disclosed that he is fairly new to the farming scene, and is looking forward to seeing a vibrant agriculture sector.

GRANTS

However, the young farmer stated that there is need for grants or capital for young men and women like himself who wish to start a career as a farmer.
“As a youngster coming up, no one would have thought that I would become a farmer. But I have seen a very great potential in farming, so I am sticking with it,” Elias said, adding: “But I believe that some of us might need a grant as well to cultivate more, because there is only so much one person can do.”
Elias further stated that Victoria farmers are in dire need of farm-to-market roads, and to have those backed-up canals and other facilities in the village desilted and cleaned, in order to properly address the infrastructural issues in the area.
Another farmer, who hails from Golden Grove and gave his name as “Akara”, also spoke of some of the issues with drainage and irrigation in his area.
“We got the kokers at the back that usually bring in the water from the Conservancy; those kokers need to be fixed, because when they close, the water still seeping in,” Akara said. “And also, as farmers, we have a problem with the pump, because sometimes when the rain falls, the water does be high in the backlands,” he added.

NO ONE-OFF MEETING
Addressing the farmers’ concerns, Minister Mustapha said, “This will not be my first and last visit to these areas. As a matter a fact, when we would have completed this meeting, and based on this meeting, I will come back here to you the farmers to ensure that those commitments and those promises that we would have made here are fulfilled.”
He added that such meetings will allow the ministry to form a relationship with farmers to provide the much-needed assistance they require to make Guyana a food-secure country.
“The Ministry of Agriculture [is] now focused on making Guyana food-secure; that means we have to develop all the areas,” Minister Mustapha said. “What I will do, I will send our drainage and irrigation engineers; I will ask our extension officers from NAREI, GLDA, D&I and GRDB to do a needs assessment in the backdam and other parts of your community,” he told the farmers.

With regards to the issue of access to markets to sell their produce, the minister told the farmers that he is currently in talks with several other agencies about helping them market their produce.

“What we plan to do is revamp the policy of the Guyana Marketing Corporation. Now the GMC has to be focused to find market for the farmers’ produce; we are looking at the possibility of GMC purchasing the farmers’ produce, and we can supply these produce to the prisons, the police, the Guyana Defence Force and to the hospital,” he said.
This way, he said, farmers will be able to have their produce marketed regularly.