A budding village ripe for development

ANNIE Pestano is a resident of Cromarty Village, Corentyne, Berbice and a councillor attached to the Madia-Tarlogie Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and has been living there for the past 37 years.

She is a native of #37 Village but after marriage, she relocated to Cromarty Village to start her married life. She tied the knot with Jerry Pestano, a local of Cromarty, a farmer and they have five children.

Pestano told the Pepperpot Magazine that Cromarty is a small agricultural-based community with reef lands utilised for rice and cash crop farming.

She reported that in the earlier days, the locals used to rear cattle and livestock on a large scale but due to time and change, a lot of the elders have since passed on and some people no longer have a lot of cattle.

The 61-year-old explained that when she first moved to Cromarty she had very little and they had a little house and after she got her children, they assisted her in building a better house.

Pestano disclosed that her son, Kelvin Pestano, is the pillar of the home because he assists herself and her husband at the farm. He is also a pastor, who is very dedicated to the family and has given so much of himself to them.

Pestano added that it isn’t a high-crime village and they do have some disturbance, but it is nothing overbearing like any other village. They have a few ‘bad apples’ that make trouble and take things that do not belong to them.

“I like it here because no matter how little you have in terms of resources, you can make a meal. You can go catch fish and you can plant since there is space and almost everything is available in the village,” she said.

Pestano added that they have people who would deliver chickens and a lot of locals rear their own and there is a butcher in the community and most of the people there are farmers who plant, sell and share their produce among residents.

“This is a place the people cooperate and they give of what they have. If I plant pumpkins, I will share with my neighbours and they would do the same so we live well mostly and there are no strangers in this village and it is safe,” she said.

She stated that the schools and health centres are in nearby villages and they would go to Port Mourant Market to get essentials.

The Pestanos are farmers of tomato, peppers, pumpkins, boulanger and watermelon, and they would usually sell to wholesale buyers.

Presently, they have to harvest watermelons but cannot bring it from the farm due to the rain which has caused the access dam to become impassable.

Pestano told the Pepperpot Magazine that the village needs a health centre, a police outpost and a fire station since the population is growing and to access basic services, they have to exit the village to do so.

She explained that there are a lot of elderly people in the village and that commuting to hospitals and health centres is difficult since some cannot walk.

Jerry Pestano is a farmer and he also works at another job up to half-day and assists his son on the farm after work.

They have one employee who goes to the farm three times per week to assist with the crops and the farm is located in the back lands of the village.

Pestano told the Pepperpot Magazine that it is safe to say she has a comfortable life surrounded by family members, including her children and grandchildren and she would lend support to the community in the form of a councillor.

She stated that Cromarty is ripe for infrastructural development and it has a lot of potential as a farming village, a budding food basket of the country.