Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday spearheaded the distribution of the Government’s flood relief cash grants at several locations in East Berbice–Corentyne (Region Six) to the tune of around $1b, according to the Department of Public Information (DPI).
Addressing beneficiaries at Auchlyne, Lesbeholden, Yakusari, Johanna and Mibicuri, Mustapha said the Government will continue to make investments in the agriculture sector and more importantly, in the citizens.
“The Government is trying to help us, there were many times in this country when we had flood in 2017/2018 and nobody received anything. Now we are receiving something from the Government and let me be very frank with you all, since we got into Government, we are trying our utmost to help the people of our country” the Minister stated, according to DPI.
Mustapha said the grant is not a compensation for the losses the farmers faced during the floods, but an investment by the Government to ensure that they are able to resume farming as quickly as possible.
“The Government has saw it fit that we try to get the farmers back as early as possible, as quickly as possible to the lands.”
The Agriculture Minister asserted that the grants are being distributed in a non-discriminatory way.
He outlined several measures which are aimed at putting back billions of dollars into the pockets of ordinary Guyanese. Among these are the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant which saw every child in the public school system benefitting from $19,000; and the COVID-19 $25,000 cash grant.
The Minister reassured farmers whose names were not on the list to receive their cheques yesterday that special efforts will be made to ensure that they are able to receive their grants within a week or two weeks.
The Minister added that Government will embark on a number of flood mitigation initiatives.
“The President has announced that in the three regions, Region Three, Region Five and Region Six, that we will build a canal like the Hope Canal so that places like Black Bush Polder will not be affected with the severe flooding that you had in the last few months that you had… So, all these are the investments that we are making to the people of our country, we want to develop the Agricultural sector,” Mustapha said, according to DPI.
A number of beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to the Government for the initiative.
Ronald Jones, a livestock farmer told DPI that he faced severe losses due to the flood and that he was grateful for the help.
“I feel proud about it because I glad that I gon get back something that I lost… “I must say thanks to the government because it wasn’t for him, we couldn’t of get back something”, Jones said.
Deochand Bookie, a rice farmer, said “I plant 200 acres in land and me lost like 70 acres.”
Distribution of the grants will continue in the new week, DPI said.
Relief measures
President Irfaan Ali on July 31st announced a series of relief measures, including billions in cash grants for households and farmers that were devastated by recent flooding countrywide.
In a brief address to the nation, Ali explained that recent flooding had severely affected 300 communities and 52,000 households. The agricultural sector, he said, has suffered the greatest loss with 92,000 acres of farm and farm lands affected. The sugar industry, in particular, he noted, suffered a $1.5 billion loss in the fields.
“Farmers within the context of a homestead would receive $100,000 each. Those with kitchen gardens will receive $50,000 each. And households excluding homestead and kitchen garden will receive $50,000 each. The combined assistance to homestead farmers, kitchen gardens and households for these categories will be in excess of $3.5 billion,” he announced.
Ali said that while some large farmers were severely affected, especially in rice and poultry, the ceiling of assistance will not exceed $10 million for individual farmers.
Within those parameters the rice sector, which saw approximately 50,000 acres and 2000 farmers directly affected, will be offered assistance in four categories at a cost of more than $3.2 billion.
“For rice that was ready to harvest but lost in the floods, $80,000 per acre would be given to those farmers. For rice sowed and lost in the autumn crop, these farmers will receive $65,000 per acre and for land that was completely prepared but was not sowed, $45,000 per acre would be given to these farmers,” Ali announced, before adding that 60,000 bags of seed paddy would also be made available.
In the livestock industry, the 2,000 subsistence farmers, small farmers, medium farmers, and large-scale farmers affected will receive financial assistance in excess of $600 million.
