Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday committed to providing assistance to Buxton farmers with regard to ongoing drainage and irrigation issues.
This commitment was made at a meeting with a number of farmers in Buxton. This was after the minister had met with representatives from the Buxton/Friendship farmers group at the minister’s weekly ‘Farmers Open Day’ last Friday.
A Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) release yesterday also stated that during the meeting, the farmers raised a number of issues and Mustapha made a commitment to having most of them addressed within the coming week.
Farmers in the backdams complained about the lack of drainage due to clogged canals and drains.
Chairman of the farmers’ group, Leroy Hamer, complained that in the past, the community was not able to benefit from drainage and irrigation services.
“We were not getting the cooperation in terms of the maintenance of the water ways. The water level is very low and that causes tremendous damage to our farms. The drainage systems need to be updated and maintained. We also need irrigation. When rain falls we are flooded out and when there is the dry season we have no water to water our crops. We are farmers and if we are planting we have to get water for our crops,” Hamer was quoted as saying.
Mustapha responded by informing the gathering that a machine will be sent to the village to commence works on the canal in a matter of days.
“Driving into this meeting, it was clear that you need drainage. The CEO of NDIA [National Drainage & Irrigation Authority] is here and I’ve asked him to send an engineer to meet with the members of the farmers’ and community groups tomorrow. I am making a commitment to have a machine from the NDIA sent here permanently until the works have been completed,” Mustapha said.
He also told the gathering that other small drainage projects will be done and those works will be given to the members of the community.
“We will give contracts to persons in the community to do the manual cleaning so that employment can be in the community and revenue can be circulated. You the beneficiaries will have to sign off on the works before payments are made. If you are not pleased with the way the works are done we will hold off on making payments until you are satisfied,” the Minister said
Curt Adams spoke of the lack of employment for young people in the village, while others highlighted the need for proper roads to access their farms.
The minister informed the residents that since the government is currently operating with an emergency budget, it would not be able to carry out all the major works needed in the community this year.
“My officers are here making notes and they will provide me with a detailed report after they come and meet with you tomorrow. We will try to have some work done to the access dam but with the limited resources available, some of the major projects will have to wait until 2021. I will speak to the Minister of Public Works so that he can visit you and have a team come to assess what works can be done to your streets now because I can see that there needs to be some amount of work done to these streets”, the minister said.
A number of persons present expressed an interest in getting into farming and sought the assistance of the minister to obtain basic farming tools such as power saws, grass cutters and cutlasses.
MoA Chief Technical Officer, George Jervis, said that the ministry has an ongoing project that provides persons with tools and other basic agricultural equipment.
Mustapha also took the time to encourage farmers to move away from subsistence farming.
“We have to do agriculture in a different way. NAREI will be commencing a Smart Agriculture Project where they will be making shadehouse materials available to farmers at a cost price. The revenues from this will be put into a revolving fund so that materials can always be available. We are also looking to secure more markets for your produce. I won’t encourage you to increase your production without working to ensure you have markets. Over the next few months, we will be revamping a number of agencies, including the Guyana Marketing Corporation to ensure they place more emphasis on finding markets, both locally and in the Caribbean for your produce,” Mustapha said.
The minister also distributed seeds to farmers as part of the recommenced seed distribution initiative, the release added.
