Farmers at Hyde Park, Mahaicony Creek have lost hundreds of acres of rice worth millions to rising floodwaters during the last three weeks.
“This is not the fault of the drainage mechanisms in place…the Hyde Park Canal and koker are both well maintained…is all the rain that been falling that causing the water level to go up,” Sarabjit Singh, a large scale rice producer, told Stabroek News yesterday.
Singh, the owner of Sarabjit and Sons Estates, reported that as a result of the flooding caused by the recent heavy rainfalls, which are expected to continue for some time, he has lost 130 acres of rice.
The Hyde Park Canal, which according to Singh is located between Mahaica and Abary, along with the Hyde Park Koker are the two main drainage sources in the area. The man explained that both the koker and canal have been maintained on a regular basis but still the water continues to submerge their rice fields.
Like most farmers in the area, Singh blames the heavy rainfall for his losses but at the same time he is frustrated because “no one seems to be able to give any help”. Dharamkumar Seeraj, General Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers Association (GRPA) was informed of the situation, Singh said.
However, Singh stated, no assistance has yet been offered to the farmers by the GRPA or any other organisation.
If things continue this way, the farmer said, many producers like him may not be able to revive their businesses for the New Year.
“I’ve been pumping water off of my land but still it ain’t seem to be making a difference…I got at least 10 to 12 extra inches of water on my rice fields,” Singh explained.
Most rice farmers, Singh informed Stabroek News, would have started preparing their fields at the beginning of this month. The land must be “roamed” (ploughed) four times, “chipped” and “dragged” before the paddy seeds can be thrown.
Singh, in an effort to give this newspaper an estimate of his losses, said that each of the above stated processes cost $3,500 per acre. One and half bags of paddy seeds are distributed per acre.
This season Singh and his two sons hired 60 workers to throw the paddy seeds. It took the workers two days to complete this task; they were each paid $8,000 for the working period.
Although, Singh is among the group of farmers who produce their own paddy seeds it still costs him about $5,500 for every bag. Sarabjit Singh and Sons, therefore, would have spent approximately $4,282,500 on the now worthless 130 acres of crop. This newspaper learnt from Singh that many farmers in the area have suffered losses of similar amounts or more. Several efforts made to contact Seeraj via cellular phone yesterday were futile.
