Rice farmers in East Berbice–Corentyne will soon benefit from a better access dam maintenance programme with the addition of a brand-new motor grader to Region Six’s fleet of machines.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha commissioned the grader yesterday at the ministry’s sub-office at Tarlogie on the Corentyne coast.
A press release from the ministry said that the machine was procured for $24 million under the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority’s (NDIA) 2022 capital expenditure programme.
Mustapha said that the government is working to double rice production within the next three years. He also said that in order to achieve this, the ministry has expended large sums of money on rehabilitation work to access dams in the rice cultivation areas.
“We have to use the infrastructure more responsibly. $34 million was allocated initially for this region for dam maintenance works under the ministry. By the end of the year, roughly $84 million will be spent to rehabilitate access dams in the region because more work was needed. These are temporary works because we have to do them every crop. This is why the government is looking to construct all-weather roads but those are large projects that require a lot of funds, but will be done over time,” Mustapha said, according to the release.
