– additional pumps to be installed

MINISTER of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha recently established a task force to closely monitor flooding, following the ‘Hydromet’ Department’s advisory alerting fishermen and residents on the coast of instances of high waves, coupled with above-normal tides and increased rainfall.

The task force, which comprises of a number of technical officials from Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Four (Demerara-Mahaica); Five (Mahaica-Berbice); and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), is tasked with reporting instances of flooding, heavy rainfall, and breaches in sea defences and drainage and irrigation structures along the coast and other low-lying areas.
Minister Mustapha said that given the seriousness of the advisory and Guyana’s geographical position, it is important to have such a team in place.

“We are currently experiencing extreme rainfall as part of our November – January rainy period; the ‘Hydromet’ Department also forecasted high waves and above-normal tides. With all this information at hand, it was critical for me to establish this task force, so that information about what is happening on the ground can be filtered across the sector in a timely manner. I’ve also instructed our regional engineers and other officers to provide daily reports about rainfall in their respective areas, and how it is affecting persons and their farming activities,” Minister Mustapha said.

The subject minister further disclosed that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has been working with regional officials to carry out a number of works to ensure that drainage channels in a number of farming communities are cleared.

This, the minister said, would improve the drainage capacity in these areas, should there be any occurrence of flooding. Additionally, a team from the ministry is currently working with cash-crop and livestock farmers who would have experienced losses recently as a result of flooding, due to heavy rainfall.

During a visit to flood-affected areas in Black Bush Polder, Minister Mustapha reaffirmed the government’s commitment to assisting farmers who were affected, and instructed officers from the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) to conduct assessments in these areas so that some form of assistance can be given to the farmers.

“We cannot give you cash; what we can do is offer assistance in the form of seeds, fertilisers and other planting materials. The officers are here, and they will be collecting and verifying your information, so that we can start distributing the materials we have to the farmers,” Minister Mustapha said.

In an effort to improve the country’s drainage capacity in the long-term, Minister Mustapha said that his ministry is working to develop a drainage system that can withstand the impacts of climate change, which has resulted in an increase in rainfall in a short period of time.

“As it is now, there are a number of areas that are under water because of the system we currently have. Some areas that do not have gravity flow, we have to use pumps; and the pumps take a little longer than the sluice to pull the water. I am working to put a system in place where we can have both pumps and sluices operational,” the minister said, adding:

“When the tides are low, we’ll use the sluice; and when the tide is high, we’ll use the pumps, so that we can have a 24-hour system of draining the land. We know that Guyana is below sea level, and that our drainage system is only capable of draining 1½ to 2 inches of water in a 24-hour period. So when we record five and six and ten inches of accumulated water because of heavy rains, imagine how long it would take to drain those systems. This is why it is imperative for us to have our drainage system work on a 24-hour basis.”
Meanwhile, the ministry plans to install a number of additional high-capacity pumps to its fleet of drainage pumps.

“We’re working to develop an overall structure that will improve our current drainage system. This year, we plan to install a number of new pumps across the country, since we cannot rely solely on gravity drainage. With climate change having such a great impact on the weather patterns, we have to prepare our system, and have it functioning at its fullest capacity in the long-term, especially since rainfall has become a lot more unpredictable,” Minister Mustapha said.