RESIDENTS and farmers of Little and Big Biaboo, Mahaica, on Friday, complained about the after effects of aerial spraying, the lack of drainage and irrigation services, the after effects of heavy rainfall and the need for more agriculture extensions in their communities.
These concerns were raised during a community outreach by Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha. The farmers and residents told the minister that they have suffered major losses due to a number of issues in the region. Cash crop farmer, Kamal Persaud, said, “when the big rice farmers spray the rice with aircraft it drifts and it comes straight across and affects all the cash crop farmers.” Persaud told the minister that he and other cash crop farmers have been dealing with this issue for quite some time and whenever they make attempts to address the matter no one pays heed to their concerns. “When we meet with those people with our concern, those people are saying that they are not using that kind of drugs to damage our crops… this thing has been happening for years and years and we wish that this problem will come to an end.”
Persaud told the minister and those gathered that while rice is important and is a staple in everyone’s diet, it must be accompanied by vegetables, hence, cash crops farms are just as important as rice farms.

“Cash crop is not simple, it’s everyday work and people can’t survive on rice alone, the rice goes well with vegetables,” he said.
Raising another serious concern with the minister, Persaud noted that on weekends and holidays, a number of jet skiers are often seen speeding and performing tricks along the Mahaica River.
The man explained that the perpetrators would often perform their tricks around residential areas where farmers, residents and sometimes even little children would have to traverse.
“Another concern that I’d like to raise is the jet skiing in the Mahaica River. This area here is a residential area… people have to cross that river on a daily basis, most weekends jet ski will come and parade the place and these guys are only on the jet ski when they are intoxicated and we have small children paddling canoe in the river, we have smaller boats.”

MORE EFFICIENT EXTENSION SERVICES
Meanwhile, another farmer, who gave his name as Naresh Bhagwadoe, made a request for the Ministry of Agriculture to provide more efficient extension services in the area to better assist the farmers of Little and Big Biaboo. “We are asking the Ministry of Agriculture for extension service to Region Four, most of the extension service provided in this area is from Region Five, if we could get some service for the farmers in Region Four for the farmers farming across the river and up the river,” he said, adding: “My second concern is that there is an agriculture officer in the area but most of the time because of the condition of the dam and such, we need some type of transportation to get [the individual] into the backdam.”
Additionally, Bhagwadoe told the minister that livestock farmers within the area are also in need of some assistance from the ministry.
A farmer, from Little Biaboo, who preferred not to be named, said there are some serious works that need to be done to improve drainage and irrigation systems in the farming community, especially during the rainy season.

“When the rain fall the pump can’t pump out the water from the canal and some farmers cut the dam and put some tubes in and when the pump working the water still can’t move,” the man said, adding: “We are requesting a pump at the canal during the rainy season and we just asking if you all could put it in place for the rainy season.”
In response to the concerns that were raised by the farmers, Minister Mustapha put a halt to aerial spraying until farmers can find other methods of distributing pesticides to their farms.
Additionally, the minister told the farmers in the area that he will report the issue of jet skiers to the relevant authorities and his colleague so it can be addressed as soon as possible.
He also told the farmers and residents that extension officers will be deployed to the farming communities to address their immediate concerns.
In addition, the minister noted that a team from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) will also return to the area within a few weeks to address the concerns of poor drainage and irrigation services in the communities.