With dry weather persisting due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, acres of rice are starting to die in the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas as some farmers are still unable to get water to their lands.
“It just keep getting worse and worse every day and they ain’t got anything we could do. Them man keep on pumping when we suppose to pump and nobody doing anything about it,” farmer Susankar (only name) told Stabroek News, as he lamented already losing 150 acres of rice.
“It’s not just me losing. All these farmers in this block [Block One] starting to lose. Look, me brother lose a hundred and this other (one) lose 50,” he pointed out.
Susankar said while it has rained a few times during the two weeks, it was nothing significant. “Yeah the rain falling but what that little rain supposed to do? Them men [MMA-ADA] had block off one of the canal so the water could build up and when they release it that didn’t do anything. We still ain’t getting water,” he said.
Although the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) has implemented a schedule for farmers to pump water from the limited supply to their farmlands, those farthest away from the source of the water are still able to irrigate their lands.
As the demand for water continued, farmers started selfishly blocking the canals to get more water for their lands, much to the detriment of others. Despite being warned and encouraged by the MMA-ADA to let the water properly flow through the canals, the farmers closer to the stream continued to selfishly pump the water which forced the MMA-ADA to regulate the pumping of the water. They divided the farmlands into five blocks. General Manager of the MMA-ADA Aubrey Charles had told Stabroek News that each block would be allowed to pump water from the canal for two days.
However, despite the system the MMA had implemented, farmers who were not allowed to pump were still siphoning off the water, prompting calls for stronger actions from the MMA-ADA.
However, despite it being two weeks since the farmers had called on the MMA-ADA to take stricter actions in regulating the water, the situation has worsened and Charles reiterated that there is not much more that the MMA-ADA can do right now. “Some of the farmers are still complaining and I just came from a meeting with them and they raised the topic,” he said. “There’s hardly anything we can do,” he said.
Charles added that while there are still complaints about people pumping water during the nights without permission, whenever his staff finds farmers doing so they stop them.
“They want us to stop the other blocks so they could get water but then that just means they are thinking about themselves and I can’t make such a decision,” Charles said, while adding that he has to think about all the farmers when he makes decisions and not just one set.
Charles said that even though the farmers farthest away from the source have been assisting the MMA-ADA tremendously, it is terribly disappointing that they are the ones not being able to get water for their farmlands. He added that he would try to give the block one farmers priority again but that doesn’t guarantee all the farmers in that block would be able to get water.
Susankar also stated that he hopes the government will provide some assistance to the farmers that stand to lose. “I hope that they give us some sweet paddy or fertiliser or something ’cause this is not something we can easily recover from. It looking like I will lose all 300 acres and that’s a lot of money and I owe the bank too,” he added.
