Farmers situated in Kokerite Savannah, East Berbice, Region Six are pleading with the authorities for assistance as they say that the savannah is currently flooded, a claim vehemently disputed by regional officials.
Third-generation cattle farmer, Suresh Singh, 59, of Number 48 Village, Corentyne, yesterday told Stabroek News, that he has over 500 animals at the location and is worried that if the situation continues he will suffer a large number of losses.
Most farmers said that after last year’s flood, some water had remained at the location, but since the heavy rainfall last week, the water has since risen to an uncontrollable level and is causing their animals much discomfort.
According to Singh, the water is currently not moving off the land and he recommended that works need to be carried out on a trench which he identified as the “new trench.” Further, there needs to be some sort of structure or tubing placed at the end of that trench to divert the water into the Canje Creek to bring relief to the cattle farmers who are at their wits’ end at the location.
Singh recalled, that during last year’s major flood he lost between 270 to 280 animals, and hopes that a similar situation does not recur.
Another cattle farmer, Alister Rajkumar, yesterday also told Stabroek News that the water had risen higher since the rain last week. He, too, noted that he foresees losses if works are not carried out. Rajkumar also suggested that the “new trench” needs clearing.
According to him, at the location where he is, there are presently about 1,000 animals with over twenty farmers being affected.
Meanwhile, Yuvindra Singh, 42, of Number 48 Village, Corentyne, relayed that he has over 180 animals at the location presently. According to him, the trench that is silted up was last cleared in 2007.
The visibly frustrated man lamented that every time they work and increase their herd, something of this nature happens and then they lose their animals.
He contended that cattle farmers have been battling floodwaters since 2011, noting that “the water never go away completely.”
Faeda Shiwdas, 64, of Number 43 Village, Corentyne, relayed to this newspaper that her husband Peter Leon Crawford, 74, has several hundred head of cattle at the location.
She said her husband, who often visits the backlands, relayed to her that the young animals are dying. “Last week he tell me say them cow a dead a lot, none baby can’t survive, them na get place fa sleep, and them keep mashing all the little grass what there and all died.”
The woman echoed that the farmers at the location need help, stressing that works should commence urgently. She too is afraid that they will suffer huge losses similar to last year.
Following the heavy floods last year, Crawford lost over 200 head of animals, this newspaper was told.
Meanwhile, it had been reported that the farmers had reached out to Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, who immediately sent a team to the location to conduct an assessment.
According to the farmers, the three-man team visited the location on Tuesday in the presence of most of the affected farmers.
However, Regional Chairman, David Armogan, yesterday at the region’s statutory meeting told the council that persons have “sensationalised” the issue by claiming that the “water was very very high in the Kokerite Savannah and that hundreds of animals are dying, but when we checked on it, we had to hurriedly get a delegation to go with our people here in the region as well, and when we checked, the story was completely untrue.”
Armogan said that the visiting team reported that there was no truth to the claims noting, that “when they went down there was absolutely (no) truth to that story.” He continued, “People tend to sensationalise and say all sorts of things on television and write all sorts of things.”
Prominent Berbician Dr Veerasammy Ramayya first spoke about the issue on one of his televised programmes.
According to Armogan, there was one instance where they discovered that a woman had requested that a certain dam be cut to have the area she was “dried completely.” But they then discovered that if that was done the water would lead into the sugar cultivation areas attached to the Albion Estate and cause massive destruction there. “If we cut that dam then we are closing Albion Estate,” he noted.
Meanwhile, AFC Regional Councilor, Dereck Basdeo, also cosigned the chairman’s statement said that the team visiting the location to assess the situation was a “waste of taxpayer money.” He added, “I will say that Mr. Ramayya have to stop peddling these lies on national TV.”
Furthermore, farmers when told of the statements made about the situation yesterday became very annoyed as they stressed that the regional officials seemingly were unaware of what they were “going through” in the backdam.
