Despite dry weather conditions faced by rice farmers, the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) is confident that they will have water throughout the current crop cycle as water levels have started to rise.
Rice farmers in the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas, feeling the heat of the El Nino dry season, had resorted to blocking several canals in order to secure water for their own farmlands. As a result, the MMA-ADA had sent out several staff members to monitor and regulate the use of water.
A source at the MMA-ADA told Stabroek News yesterday that while the Abary and Berbice blocks still have enough water to last through the current crop cycle, the Mahaicony and Mahaica blocks are seeing a rise in water levels since the farmers have started cooperating. “There is a slight build up at Mahaicony and Mahaica that is currently ongoing since the farmers are starting to cooperate and our staff are regulating the water 24/7,” he said, while noting that due to pumping from the Pine Ground, Mora Point and Kuliserabo stations, the water levels are slowly increasing. “The pumps have been working for about two weeks but because everyone [was] pumping then the water kept going down fast,” he further said, while noting that the water is slowly rising following the MMA/ADA’s intervention to monitor and regulate the use of water.
“I don’t think it getting any better. There ain’t got water and the canals are blocked. Kuliserabo is blocked and even though they pumping the water barely coming down,” Ricky Baldeo, a rice farmer from Mahaica told Stabroek News yesterday. He said that the canals have not been cleaned since 2010, which is affecting the water storage. Baldeo said that while he has 200 acres of rice currently growing, if there isn’t anything done soon, he is expected to lose about $200M.
Another farmer, Haimchand Dindial, who has about 4,000 acres of rice growing, said, “If you go there (the canals) you can play football. That’s how dry it dry.” He added that only the rain can save the farmers. He too said that several of the canals need to be cleaned and the pumps need to be serviced as some of them do not work as efficiently as they should.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported on Wednesday that a high level meeting was convened the same day with the aim of bringing relief to the affected farmers throughout the country. The GINA report stated that a multi-sectorial approach had been adopted to deal with the effects of the phenomenon and would not only see efforts being made to pump water on land, but to also explore the options of retaining water to be used during the long dry seasons.
“Steps will have to be taken to pump water into the conservancies through other sources by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority [NDIA]. While this has already commenced with the assistance of the MMA, we are now looking at pumping water from the Torani canal to assist GuySuCo, whose 2017 first crop production will be affected if the situation continues,” Agriculture Minister Noel Holder was quoted as saying.
Since the water levels were at an all-time low in the Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary areas, the way the water would flow from the canals onto the farmlands due to gravity was not possible anymore and farmers were forced to use their pumps. However, because all the farmers in the areas needed water, since rice needs an abundance of water to thrive and grow properly, they all used their pumps simultaneously, which was counterproductive and only caused the limited water to be depleted even further.
The MMA-ADA had then put in place a system where only farmers who were deemed as being a “priority”—farmers who had already sown and not those who were starting to—were allowed to access water first.
The Ministry of Agriculture had also announced that that the NDIA was working in conjunction with the MMA-ADA to address the situation and urged the farmers to refrain from tampering with the drainage systems as they would be prosecuted if they were caught in the act.
