Dear Editor,
We the cattle and other livestock farmers on the right and left banks of the Abary Creek are facing tremendous losses with our cattle from Blairmont to Copeman. Farmers are losing no less than 60 animals a day.
Some of us were farmers before the MMA came into operation, and we never lost so many cattle then; even after the MMA came into being we were not losing our animals. At that time the MMA was managed by qualified personnel and the equipment was there to do the necessary work on drainage and irrigation.
What Mr Malcolm Ali wrote in the January 13 edition of SN is correct (‘The proposed Hope Canal is not the best option to drain the conservancy’): there is a 7-door sluice in the Abary Creek which has not been used for the past 12 years and over. This sluice was there for a purpose, and if it had been taken care of the Abary Creek would not be flooded because all the stuff and silt that is left there would have been washed away by the flow of the water. Every day the Abary Creek water is muddy; before the water used to be black.
Right now we know of a solution to solve the problem of flooding, but when we tell the people at MMA they ask us if we are engineers. Here are some of the things they should do:
(1) There is a blockage across the creek about 150 rods in length, and it needs to be cleared. It was there when the President visited but he did not go that far.
(2) There are 5 outlets in the main canal discharging into the Berbice River − 2 at Von Better, 1 at Blairmont, 1 at Sixteen and 1 at No. 27. This operation does not need millions to operate, just 10 men; 2 at each outlet with one in the day for 6 hours and one in the night for 6 hours when the tide is low. By doing this the main canal water will go down and each farmer from Blairmont to Copeman will open his outlet, about 20 in all, and the water from their ranch land would go down. It will also help the Abary because water will be flowing on two sides.
I hope someone in authority will read this letter and see if it will work. This is something farmers have been facing since 2002, and if rates are not paid we are threatened that we will be taken to court and the land taken back. Right now we are planning to take the authority to court.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address
provided)
