COMMUNITY Development Council (CDC) Chairman Royanand Persaud is one of the large-scale farmers in Moleson Creek Village. He moved to the community as a boy from Morashee, Essequibo River.

The farmer has 100 acres of farmlands in the village, but due to the rainy conditions and other issues, he is utilising only 20 acres.

Persaud uses 15 acres just for citrus and five for pumpkins and ground provisions and employs five to eight men from the village.

He explained that he is originally from Morashee, Essequibo River, and after his father passed away his mother sold off the property and lands and they relocated to Berbice.

Persaud added that he was still a boy when that happened and they lived with his mother and siblings at Crabwood Creek, her home village.

As he matured, he moved away and acquired a plot of land at Moleson Creek and began his own life of farming as his father did and is leading a simple life.

Persaud is the father of three and would sell his produce to wholesale buyers, who would visit the village via canter trucks.

The 54-year-old stated that the community is slowly developing, and he hopes that they will soon benefit from electricity which is a basic necessity.

He reported that construction of a road started last year December and so far they have a ‘crush-and-run’ road which will be made into an all-weather one.

Persaud told the Pepperpot Magazine that as a farmer, they need an upgrade in the drainage and irrigation network in the village to reduce flooding in the farmlands.

He noted that they were hard hit by several floods. The most severe was in May/June and the water stayed on the land for a while, resulting in a loss of income and crops.

The CDC Chairman reported that they also need to access their farms in a better way via the dam, but with the present rainy conditions, they have to use boats to get there.

He has since made recommendations on behalf of the farmers to have an excavator visit to do some land preparation and also to boost the current drainage system they have in place.

Persaud said the quality of the potable water in the village should be improved, because presently, the water coming from the taps are brown, and they cannot be used for drinking or cooking.

Like most locals, he would make his way to the farm from early in the morning and work until noon, after which he would return home to tend to household chores, which include cooking.

“Life here is in slow-motion and it is a humble way of life since we do not have any facilities like the developing villages and due to the location, we really don’t have a lot at the back here,” he said.

Ghazie Munair Ibrahim, the cash-crop farmer
Ghazie Munair Ibrahim is also a farmer and resident of Moleson Creek and he is one of the small-scale farmers who has not yet received the government’s cash-grant relief which was approved for distribution following flooding earlier this year.

The 38-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that he used to plant pumpkins, plantains and cash crops, but now there aren’t any crops on his farm due to the weather and the scarcity of cash.

The father of nine added that his loss amounted to $5 million, and to date, he cannot recover to re-start farming, which is his only source of income.

Ibrahim reported that he has to prepare the land for farming and he doesn’t have access to the equipment needed for that purpose and presently, he is not working and is unsure of his next move, but is hoping that things will improve.