-claims baseless, says ministry
The main opposition PNCR and the Agriculture Ministry have clashed over the alleged neglect of agricultural development in the Pomeroon, which the government says is a major focal point of development.
At a press conference last Friday, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin told reporters that promises made by government officials, including the Minister of Agriculture, to provide relief, such as financial assistance, improving the drainage infrastructure and dredging the mouth of the Pomeroon River, have failed to fully materialise. He further said that in a few instances where some assistance was offered, there was clear evidence of discrimination in the manner in which the assistance was provided.
According to Corbin, the assistance was only provided to areas where PPP supporters live. “Given that the majority of the non-PPP supporters are of African Guyanese origin, the obvious conclusion is that political discrimination in these areas amount to racial discrimination,” he insisted. A party team that included Corbin visited the Essequibo and Pomeroon recently.
In citing an example of the alleged discrimination, Corbin said two excavators were sent to the area with the promise that they would have been used to improve the drainage in all areas to buttress the effects of the frequent flooding. The party however learnt that the machines were only used in PPP support areas and when those assignments were completed, they were diverted to work on the large private farms of a few PPP supporters. Meanwhile, farmers in Aberdeen, Hackney and other areas remain without any assistance or relief, it said.
On its visit to the Pomeroon, the PNCR team also found that the Hackney and Aberdeen canals are overtaken with weeds, leading to extreme hardship for farmers to take their produce to market at Charity and posing extreme challenges for children to attend school.
Reading the party press statement, Corbin also said direct representation on these issues was made by the PNCR Regional Councillors to the Regional Democratic Council of Region Two, Essequibo Islands/Pomeroon, yet the administration has failed to provide adequate relief.
In an effort to solve their own problems, residents, with the assistance of ACDA, produced a project document and a proposal for the “Akawini Drainage Project.” This project was intended to improve the infrastructure by building effective river defences and improving drainage. The project, estimated at a cost of $13M, was submitted to the European Small Project Programme and approved.
Corbin accused government of moving to block the release of funds for this and other projects approved by the European Union for granting project assistance.
Further, Corbin said residents in the Lower Pomeroon have been frustrated in efforts to obtain titles for their lands despite promises by Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud to have the process expedited. The PNCR, he said too, also believes it is hypocritical for the Minister to boast of the Government’s “Grow More Food” campaign while neglecting the fundamentals to make such a campaign successful.
Corbin said the problems do not stop there as students have to travel for miles by river at great expense to attend secondary school. The promise made to build a secondary school at Hackney to serve students in the lower Pomeroon area is yet another unfulfilled promise, he noted.
In a statement on Saturday in response to the PNCR’s claims, the ministry pointed to drainage and irrigation, marketing and extension services and the Grow More Food campaign as the areas in which its has boosted development in the area.
It noted that through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), it has intervened on several occasions, including the deployment of two excavators and a pontoon for the building of embankment and empoldering farmlands. Further, it said a drainage pump has been installed at Cozier at a cost of $28M and a drainage sluice constructed at Charity costing $36M.
The NDIA, the statement said, is currently spending $5M to construct revetment and two drainage culverts at Dredge Creek (Manacuru, Pomeroon).
Also, it expects that the implementation of a number of community D&I groups in the Charity/Urasara areas would benefit the areas.
With regards to assistance for farmers, the ministry noted that its system entails the verification and legitimisation of farmers’ claims, not only by Ministry officials but the farmers themselves, who play a leading role in determining the validity of each other’s losses.
It noted that the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) has also been acting as a facilitator in finding markets for farmers, while it provides a wide range of assistance to affected farmers including agriculture outputs (seeds, fertilizers, chemicals) and technical assistance.
The US$6M Rural Enterprise and Development Project (READ), which will benefit approximately 28,000 people in rural farming communities has a component, a Rural Enterprise Grant, which will aid in the development of production and marketing systems in Region Two, including Pomeroon, the statement said.
The statement noted what it called attempts by Corbin to discredit its “Grow More Food” campaign” and in this regard pointed out that the activity was launched in Charity with the Pomeroon area being one of the first beneficiaries of seeds, chemicals, planting material and other support. It said due to the campaign, Guyana has been able to sustain its food secure status and today there is an increase of fresh fruit and vegetable and even processed agricultural produce exports, a significant amount of which is directly exported from the Pomeroon.
The ministry also singled out the training of farmers as extension agents and for agro-processing purposes, the donation of computer and associated equipment to the Pomeroon Women’s Agro Processing Association, a mechanised cassava grater with associated training for farmers and villagers as some of the promises fulfilled for the Pomeroon area.
