BEING a farmer takes a lot of know-how, and it is challenging today due to the changing weather patterns and the high cost of living, but the farmers of Big Biaboo Village are withstanding the test of time.

Haimchandra Ramcharitar is one such person who is the breadwinner of his home, planting red beans and bora.

He has 1500 roots of budding red beans and is hoping for a good harvest, since it is his first time cultivating such a crop.

Ramcharitar said he gets no days and does the hard labour himself, since he cannot afford to employ people.

He would sell his produce to wholesale buyers, but due to the bad condition of the dirt road leading to his house and farm, he would have to use a boat to get his produce to the koker to sell it.

At times, when he has no crops, he would act as a labourer with other farmers picking bora to earn and even go into the drainage canal to clean it as part of a day-job.

Pravesh Ramdass
Pravesh Ramdass is also a farmer and the father of one, who is expecting another child and is a local of Big Biaboo.

The 21-year-old stated that if they had everything in place, then Big Biaboo would be the perfect place to live and earn.

He is part of a family of farmers who cultivates corilla, peppers, cucumber and bora on a large scale.

Collectively, they have 13.5 acres of land they use solely for farming and when they have a good harvest, a few men from the village are employed for a day’s job.

“Vans go up to where there is road to sell all kinds of things, but at the back here, we get nothing at our doors because of the state of the dirt road,” he said.

Ramdass disclosed that due to the large-scale rice farming in the area, those farmers usually have their crops sprayed with aeroplanes. As such, it is damaging their cash crops.

Suresh Parsrum
Suresh Parsrum is also a farmer who is planting four and a half acres of bora and is hoping for a better road, so their lives will be easier.

He is 26 years old and would have to use a boat to take his child to school, instead of his motorbike, which uses less gasoline, thus exhausting his funds.

Jairam Khelawan
This 61-year-old is a pensioner, and he has a garden of plantains and bananas.

He lives alone and is taken care of by his grown children, who would check on him from time to time.

He, however, receives assistance from his neighbours and the men in his village.

The father of four is in ill health, and he cannot cultivate on a large scale as he did before.

Parsram Khelawan
Parsram Khelawan is 86 years old and a farmer, who was observed walking and spraying the tall grass by the koker which is used as a landing for boats and a loading area for produce.

He explained that he is doing some spraying of the grass for his own safety because he uses that place and doesn’t want the grass to get too tall.

Khelawan has been a farmer all his life and is still at it. He has a 15-acre farmland where he plants bora, corilla, cassava, plantains and banana.

At his age, he still uses a paddleboat to get to his farm and bring out his produce the same way.

.Heeralall
Heeralall (only name) is the pump watchman, who has been on the job for the past 10 years.

He resides on a dam where the pump is in a bus which was converted into his living space, and is on the job on a 24-hour basis.

At the time, the team visited, he had already prepared a meal of bora and eggs with rice and was relaxing.

He is a friendly, easy-going man, who keeps his little space tidy and generally watches over the place for anything unusual.

Ramesh Shibsahai, the farmer and bird-watching tour operator
Ramesh Shibsahai is a farmer and a bird-watching tour operator, who works with other tour operators from the city.

The 59-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that he came from Bushlot, West Coast Berbice and has been in the village since.

At the age of nine, he relocated to Big Biaboo Village, which is now his home.

“I started this bird-watching tour because a lot of people came asking for the service and I said to myself, why not, and that’s how I got started,” he said.

He established his small business 15 years ago and during that time, he led tours with tourists where he saw about 50 different species of birds in the Mahaica River, a sanctuary for many birds.

Shibsahai stated that most tourists are amazed by our national bird, the Canje Pheasant, the giant river otters and the howler monkeys, the main attraction of Mahaica River.

He related that he has 50 iguanas as pets and he became interested in bird watching years ago.

Shibsahai added that the best time to conduct tours for bird watching is early in the morning and late in the afternoon; that is when the birds are out.

Presently, he is constructing a deck in his backyard just by the Mahaica River. Two cabins will also be built for recreational purposes.

“I like the quiet peacefulness of this place and it is a very safe neighbourhood where nothing goes missing and doors are left unlocked,” he said.

He has wind turbines, solar panels for electricity whenever the local power company decides to have a power outage.