–Minister of Agriculture

A NEW agro-processing facility and much-needed drainage works are among the areas where the Ministry of Agriculture will be investing significant sums of money this year to aid farmers in Region Six (East Berbice- Corentyne), Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said on Saturday.

According to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture, Minister Mustapha conducted an outreach activity on Saturday in Crabwood Creek, Corentyne Coast, and there he said about $50 million will be spent to rehabilitate dams in the cultivation areas.

While responding to issues related to access to farmlands, Minister Mustapha said that the sum was allocated last Friday following consultations with the National Drainage and Irrigation (NDIA) and the Regional Officials.

Minister Mustapha, according to the release, also said a $25 million agro-processing facility will be constructed in Crabwood Creek. With that facility, he emphasized, farmers will be able to move to more value-added businesses instead of solely selling their harvested produce.

At the meeting, farmers reportedly raised numerous concerns about flooding and called for critical drainage works to be executed. Although many farmers indicated that they were well aware of the interventions made by the government to develop the agriculture sector over the past two years, they told Minister Mustapha that they were still having challenges.

Minister Mustapha assured the farmers that the government will continue to support them as agriculture remains one of the most important sectors in Guyana.

DRAINAGE WORKS
That said, he highlighted that work was being done to improve the drainage infrastructure in Crabwood Creek and that farmers will soon benefit from improved drainage with the installation of a new pump which is expected to be operable before the end of the first quarter of 2023.

“We can’t build a new sluice now. What I can commit to is ensuring Crabwood Creek gets a new pump. This will happen within a month. It will be a 100-cusec pump and will be here permanently so that the farmers can benefit. Engineers from the NDIA will come back to the area to do an assessment and we’ll make machines available to desilt all of the canals,” the Minister said.

During a meeting with farmers from Black Bush Polder, he also assured them that they will benefit from improved drainage and irrigation. Farmers noted that with Black Bush Polder being the largest agriculture scheme in the Region, they needed to receive optimal drainage.

The Black Bush Polder farmers also sought an update from the minister on the fertiliser for cash crop farmers that was announced by the government sometime last year.

While responding to the farmers’ concerns, Minister Mustapha said that NDIA will be constructing two pump stations in the scheme this year.

“We started it last year – to build two pump stations in Black Bush Polder so you’ll have drainage and irrigation. We are also looking to construct the Hope-like canal so that Joanna and other areas can get drainage there. We will also do work in the Cookrite Savannah so that farmers can have access to their animals,” he said.

He also disclosed that cash crop farmers from Black Bush will begin receiving the promised fertiliser in the coming week.

“When we saw that the price of fertiliser was going up and farmers were hard-pressed, the government made $1 billion available to purchase fertiliser to give to the farmers. $900 million for the rice farmers and $100 million for the cash crop farmers. I want to announce that (cash crop) farmers from Black Bush Polder will begin receiving their fertiliser from Wednesday,” he noted.

Cash crop farmers present also raised concerns about the presence of chemicals in the irrigation canals. They explained that persons who are contracted to carry out routine maintenance of the irrigation canals are using chemicals to kill the vegetation and it was affecting their crops.

While noting that the contract clearly states that the use of chemicals is prohibited for the maintenance of the canals, Minister Mustapha told the farmers that closer monitoring of those works will be done by the regional officials and the Water Users Association. He also said that a team from the Pesticides and toxic Chemicals Control Board will be visiting the region to conduct tests on the irrigation canals.