Over 5,000 Region Five farmers received promised government flood-relief grants over the past weekend.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) reported that Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha spearheaded the distribution at the Bath Primary School and the Woodley Park Primary School in Region Five last Sunday.
During the distribution, Mustapha said the government understands the importance of getting farmers back to the land so that they can begin to earn and provide for their families.
“We recognise the importance of getting our farmers back to the land as quickly as possible and to get back the livestock we need as quickly as possible. That is why the President himself has been leading the team around the country to meet with those who were affected. The President made a commitment that, at the end of the day, we will do an assessment to know what was lost. Our officers were tasked with carrying out a thorough investigation so that we can give assistance to farmers as soon as possible. Today is a testament to the promises made by the President, His Excellency Dr. Irfaan Ali, and the PPP/Civic Government,” Mustapha was quoted as saying.
The DPI stated that cash crop, rice, and livestock farmers at the various distribution sites said they were grateful that the government made good on its promise and was giving farmers the much-needed help to return to the land.
One of the beneficiaries, Ganesh Singh, lost close to 90 acres of rice and other cash crops. “I sow about close to 90 acres of rice. All duck out. All my cash crop and so, I lost all. When we had the high tide and flooding in 2019, I been lose my cash crop too. The government then didn’t do anything for farmers. Now look today, the minister come and we getting back some relief. I want to thank the President and the government for this because I don’t know what I woulda do,” Singh said.
Mustapha also said despite the baseless criticisms by some, the government will continue to act in the best interest of the people of Guyana.
“You can see the kind of investment that we are making in terms of alleviating the problems and the burdens Guyanese were faced with over the last five years, prior to August 2020. While in opposition, we saw the harsh and somewhat dictatorial measures that were imposed on the people of this country We had said when we got back into power, we would remove those burdens and today we are here, comrades, to deliver again, to rollout the programme of prosperity to the people of our country because we are putting the money for the benefit of the people. You, the recipients, you be the judge.
“Those that choose to criticise this initiative do not care about your welfare. They are criticising this because these programmes that we are implementing are making them become irrelevant and exposing their true nature. Every day, they are losing supporters so they are trying to create traction by criticising the good work of the PPP/c and making false allegations,” Mustapha contended.
The DPI said thousands of farmers in several regions have so far benefitted from the government’s flood-relief initiative.
On July 31, President Ali had announced a raft of measures to bring relief to flood-affected residents and farmers across the country who suffered losses as a result of devastating flooding caused by heavy rainfall in the preceding months. He had said livestock subsistence farmers, small-, medium- and large-scale farmers would benefit from more than $600 million in direct transfers.
