-Minister Mustapha tells residents

By: Indrawattie Natram

AGRICULTURE Minister Zulfikar Mustapha announced, on Friday, that money for the purchasing of machinery to help improve the drainage and irrigation system in communities in the Pomeroon River, will be included in the 2021 budget. The pontoon and two excavators are expected to alleviate flooding in those communities, the minister said, adding that, in the coming

week, farmers can expect planting supplies and fertilizer to assist them in replanting their crops. The minister made these disclosures during public meetings held at Jacklow in the Upper Pomeroon and Marlborough in the Lower Pomeroon.

Minister Mustapha told residents that the ministry is putting long-term measures in place to alleviate the flooding that is caused by heavy

rainfall. He said the ministry, in collaboration with the NDIA, when crafting its 2021 budget, will include money for the purchase of D&I equipment. “We can’t continue to do things in the old way. We have to put the new system in place. All officers from the various agencies will be more responsive so that farmers will benefit,” the minister said.

Minister Zulfikar assured that field officers attached to various agencies will be more responsive and will ensure that assistance and services offered by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) will be

made available in remote communities. Addressing the recent flooding that inundated several acres of farm land in the Pomeroon River, the minister said that an assessment team had visited the area, and recommendations were made. He said planting materials, fertilizers and achoushi baits will be dispatched through National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) to the Pomeroon communities by next week.

It was explained that assistance will be given based on the number of losses each farmer incurred. “We will be looking at each farmer’s needs; this cannot be equally divided. However, based on the amount of losses, consideration will be extended in terms of planting materials, chemicals, and fertilizers to go back on your farm,” Minister Zulfikar added. Additionally, the minister announced that a NDIA team will be conducting further assessment in the Pomeroon communities to determine how many block drainages will be required. He informed that this

drainage work will commence after the ministry’s budget has been passed. “We will ensure that all the major stakeholders work – the RDC, NDC, NDIA, and the Ministry of Agriculture to represent the farmers in the Pomeroon,” he said. During both meetings, cash crop farmers requested block drainages, fertilizers, fuel, and also assistance in apiculture.

Calls were also made for the dredging of the Pomeroon River and the cleaning of several canals in Grand Providence and sluices in Jacklow. Farmers made known their desire to see field officers from NARIE more often. Farmers also requested small pumps for the Nile Cozier area, while the cash crop farmers in that area requested that the canal be cleared. The minister’s team included MoA Director-General, Madanlall Ramraj; NDIA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fredrick Flatts; Chairman of the NDIA board, Lionel Wordsworth; CEO of NARIE, Dr. Oudho Homenauth, and other technical officers from the region.