Dear Editor,
I am a rice farmer and I do extensive seedling paddy cultivation in the community of Hague Settlement, which is located on the West Coast of Demerara. Hague runs parallel to Cornelia Ida, north-south, that is, and is also a GuySuCo sugar cane plantation. Hague is geographically east of Cornelia Ida.
Our irrigation water comes from the Boeraserie service canal, which is located on our southern boundary and is connected to the Waramina catchment reservoir. This massive pool of water was designed to satisfy all the irrigation needs of the entire West Demerara including Parika backdam, GuySuCo plantations and all the rice cultivation east of Cornelia Ida. So too, Nismes on the West Bank.
The above is a short overview of water storage, distribution and the beneficiaries. GuySuCo with large sugar cane cultivation has itself been a super beneficiary of all the water available from the systems. They have in place a permanent concrete stoplock structure at Leonora to control and take all the water. They reluctantly release water for rice cultivation only on request from the regional authorities. In many instances, they release water for irrigation on a limited basis. This has been a practice since post-colonial times. Their strong arguments have been that the waterways are maintained by GuySuCo and not the rice farmers, so the bottom line is that all the water belongs to GuySuCo. GuySuCo’s selfish actions always have a telling effect on the struggling rice farmers. While thousands and thousands of acres are burning down, everyone is silent; the Minister is complacent; GRDB is groping in the dark; and incompetence is rampant.
The El Niño effect is now full blown. Its impact is felt countrywide. The water in the catchment area has dried up, the Region 3 officials have started pumping water from the Bonasika River ‒ first there was one large irrigator and another one has been sent lately. This action has brought us some relief. But until the regional officials are decisive about their next move and are vigilant in the services offered nothing will ever change.
We are experiencing the same effects as the rice farmers in the Mahaica and Mahaicony Creeks. The farmers on the up-side get the water and those on the down-side get none! No one is willing to intervene. So the recurring actions of some narrow-minded farmers continue non-stop.
The Minister with all his ministerial powers says nothing, does nothing and is indifferent about the perils to the rice industry.
I share the call of Mr Mohamed Khan in a recent letter to the Stabroek News letters column. His summation of a desperate situation runs parallel to my own experience. There is lots of talk, but action is very lame. No one wants to go out in the fields to solve minor or major problems. Some regional officials leave rice farmers to their own whims and fancies, because they have a sinister motive for so doing. In our situation quite unlike Mr Khan’s, GuySuCo takes all the water and leaves just a little for us. The regional officials are powerless to do otherwise.
If wise and quick action is not taken by the relevant authorities to do what needs to be done, more than one quarter of the cultivated rice in Hague settlement will be lost to the El Niño dry spell. We have rice in fields that is 60, 70 and 75 days old, which has had its final application of fertilizers. The farmers’ budgeted allocation has already been spent. The scorching heat of the sun is burning the paddy plant into useless vegetation.
At this particular time of water woes GuySuCo has all their main and subsidiary canals filled to capacity. They even have more than they really need. This I say, is mean, selfish and horribly greedy. The rice industry is self-sufficient and self-reliant. We are indebted to no one. For those with a sledge hammer over our heads, be warned you can’t crush us!
Before the rice season is over, thousands of acres will have been lost to the cruel El Niño dry weather throughout the entire country. At this juncture I would like to ask the Minister of Agriculture to tell us with a clear conscience how many acres of sugar cane has GuySuCo lost as a result of the prevailing El Niño conditions?
In closing, I must commend the efforts of the Region 3 REO. He tirelessly makes himself available to meet with the farmers on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. But most of his action plans were scuttled by unforeseen forces, and at times he became subservient to others from the very top and otherwise. When this happens our hopes for saving our crops vanish, like a passing rain cloud. So much for an honourably good person – a real public servant.
For our sustenance, food is life, farmers are the producers.
Yours faithfully,
Ganga Persaud
