Over 600 farmers stand to be affected by flooding in Region Five if breaches in the sea defence are not fixed soon, Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal said.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Ramphal explained that overtopping of the sea defence at Prospect, Mahaica some two months ago, had resulted in heavy erosion along the dam.
“It caused about 300 feet of erosion that led to a break. After that had happened, some remedial works were done, temporary remedial works by the River and Sea Defence Department [of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure] and that started about six weeks ago,” he related.
However, he noted that when the tide rose again not too long afterward, overtopping occurred at another section, which led to erosion on a smaller scale. As a result, the materials from the dam entered the area’s main drainage canal (the Bellamy canal), preventing the free flow of water through the drainage and irrigation systems.
“When there is heavy rains this can lead to serious flooding and right now there’s about 25,000 acres of rice land that depends heavily on that canal for drainage. You had farmers who were cultivating in close proximity of the canal and now all of those farmers are at risk; you have cattle farmers, cash crop farmers… It’s a matter that needs urgent attention,” Ramphal added.
He said he had written to the Mahaica, Mahaicony,Abary-Agriculture Development Authority (MMA-ADA), as well as the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, informing them of the severity of the situation.
“The Minister [of Public Infrastructure David Patterson] acknowledged to receiving my letter couple weeks ago and because of that they would’ve allocated monies for works and the tender was also out but onto today no work has been done. No contract has been awarded as yet and that is causing the whole setback on the sea defence,” he explained.
He said that while there has been no serious flooding as yet, farmers are very worried
and up to yesterday morning, he was contacted by a few who expressed their frustration and reluctance to plant.
“They are looking at the situation and saying that if another breach is to happen it could affect them severely. Over 600-700 farmers stand to be affected and that’s because the main canal is right next to the sea defence dam and all the land that is drained from the south comes to the north and leads into that main canal that takes it out to the Mahaica and Mahaicony River,” he added.
Ramphal also stressed that large stretches of the sea’s natural protection of mangroves have deteriorated, which has caused the intense waves to reach the dams.
He also stated that there is need for a more holistic approach to the situation.
