Dear Editor,
A self-acting box koker constructed across the Better Hope sea defence dam several years ago was used to drain all the Better Hope rice lands and elsewhere. We farmers were never flooded and never lost our crops. We don’t know for what reason the authorities blocked up that box koker, but since then we have been losing our crops and our fields are flooded; there is no up-to-date drainage in the area.
With the rainfall during December 2010 the water remained on my land for several days, and duckweed killed all my rice plants. In this crucial time where are myself and other farmers going to find the money to buy seed paddy again and cultivate our fields.
On January 5, 2006 we farmers asked President Bharrat Jagdeo to construct a sluice at Better Hope because we were losing paddy every crop. We were told that a sluice would be constructed in the area so our crops would not be lost to flooding. Some time in May 2006 Mr Ravi Narine, Chairman of the D&I board; Mr Ganga Persaud, Permanent Secretary; Clyde Roopchand, State Planning Officer; Region 2 Chairman Mr Alli Baksh; and Agriculture Minister (ag) Mr Harry Persaud Nokta visited the Andrews sluice where myself and several other farmers from Better Hope told the officials we are not getting drainage at Better Hope.
Mr Narine said Better Hope was a large rice area and was in need of a sluice because farmers were losing paddy every crop. Mr Narine asked Mr Baksh if he was continuing with the construction of the double-door sluice at Westbury, and he said yes. Mr Ravi Narine then told us farmers that the sluice should be in the national budget for funding.
I received a letter from Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud dated January 16, 2007 informing me that a letter I sent dated January 5, 2006 to President Jagdeo about the construction of a sluice at Better Hope, Essequibo, had been forwarded to his attention (Robert Persaud).
It was also noted in the letter that the NDIA Board had indicated to the minister that the construction of the sluice had been included in the 2007 budget for funding.
In 2008 (I can’t remember the exact date) Minister Persaud on TV RCA Channel 8 announced that the sluice would be constructed because it had been approved. In 2008 also the then REO of Region 2 Mr Iqbal Khan and an RDC Councillor as well as Chairman of the Paradise-Evergreen NDC met farmers at Better Hope School. I asked the REO when he would start construction of the sluice at Better Hope. The REO replied that the money had been invested in a pump at Anna Regina. I then received a letter from the Ministry of Agriculture dated April 20, 2008 informing me that the Minister (Robert Persaud) had been told by the NDIA and Region 2 administration that the newly constructed double door sluice at Westbury would provide additional drainage to my area.
In addition, the RDC would enlarge the opening of the structure at Andrews to increase the drainage to my area. Meanwhile, the NDIA and RDC would examine the request to build a sluice at Better Hope.
After that letter in April 2008 there has been no more mention of a sluice for Better Hope. We farmers are suffering every crop. The enlargement of the structure at Andrews is not helping us. We farmers are again calling on the President for the construction of a sluice now at Better Hope so we can get up-to-date drainage and stop losing paddy every crop.
Yours faithfully,
Indar Bacchus
