Dear Editor,
All of a sudden the newspapers are brimming with news about the drought, its effects on rice cultivation and the noble efforts being made by the NDIA and RDCs to help alleviate the shortage of irrigation water.
In Region 2 farmers have been warned to delay planting. This is a brave statement made by the authorities who I am sure finally realize there is so little water remaining in Tapakuma that it is better for those who have not planted to sit out the crop and give those who already have a crop in the ground a better chance of reaping.
All this talk of increasing pumping at Dawa from the Pomeroon into Tapakuma may sound good; however, it won’t be long before salt water from the ocean is sucked into the Pomeroon then into the tributaries that feed the pump station. When salt water reaches Dawa the pumps will be shut down. Meanwhile residents along the Pomeroon will justifiably raise hell because their drinking and irrigation water is now salty.
The last very strong El Niño was in 1997-98. Speak to Mr Shankar at Perth. He lost his crop of about 300 acres because there was no water in the irrigation canal and having pumped the drainage canal dry there was no other choice but to call it a day.
My gripe is with the NDIA and RDC officials who were warned months ago that this El Niño would be very strong. These officials seem to completely lack institutional knowledge to recall the water shortage in 1997-98 which led to crop failure up and down the Essequibo coast. Individuals such as ex-Jr Minister of Agriculture Ali Baksh was Region 2 Chairman at the time and had to face the bullets fired at him by a host of disgruntled farmers. Could he not have advised the RDC to turn on the pumps or is he now suffering from memory loss?
The point is the pumps at Dawa should have been filling Tapakuma way back in September and October when there was abundant fresh water in the Pomeroon, not now when there is only salt water to pump. Where is your institutional memory NDIA and RDC?
Local government elections are just around the corner and the electorate should go to the polls and punish those who now have the rice industry on the Essequibo Coast in semi-lockdown.
And my friends in Black Bush Polder. Take notice. The Mibicuri pump station was shut down in 1972-73 when the Canje river ran salty during an El Niño event ranked as strong.
Yours faithfully,
Edward Gonsalves
