Dear Editor,
The public and the private sectors of Guyana do not have scope for innovative and highly qualified individuals so I ended up in rice cultivation. I started having problems with cattle farmers, access dams, drainage, etc. from day one of my new venture.
There is a koker in Maida Farm which is directly on the main drainage and irrigation trench and services over 1000 acres of active land. This koker is sealed off (shut down, rendered useless) because of some stale air between two senior citizens. We have to drain our excess rainfall through the kokers of neighbouring villages and at the pace equivalent to the rate of development of Guyana. Why?
I called the Agricultural Ministry many times and complained about the cattle affecting myself and other farmers within the Maida/Tarlogie and Bushlot/Adventure NDC districts. I spoke to one Dr. Waldron and he said that he was going to send a team to Corentyne to deal with the matter. When I called back a week later, he said the team was in my area but could not find me!
Since I have been in the rice business the cow brands; K16L, 35 AZS, GG 53, BFS 45 and some others have been destroying my crops and those of other farmers and to date no form of settlement has been received. Farmers are scared of cattle owners because of the general disrespect by the cattle owners for the laws and even if they (farmers) do go to the courts for help they get pushed around.
I gave Dr. Waldron all of this information and yet no action. I complained to the vice chairman of region 6, Mr Dennis, and yet no action.
We have been pleading and begging the NDC/RDC for the machine to level our major access dam to transport our paddy without success. But when the sister-in-law of the vice chairman died there were graders and trucks and all sorts of machinery to repair the same access dam overnight. Yes, the said access dam which was in its worst condition was hard and smooth up to the burial site within a day.
The chairman of the Maida/Tarlogie NDC district is an 80-year-old retired American citizen. What is this, leadership to take us to the stone age?
Guyana needs real leadership at all levels.
Yours faithfully,
Sanjay Ramlall
