Almost two years to the day since hosting their first market day on December 19, 2020, the members of the Mocha/Arcadia Agricultural Cooperative Society will be hoping that they not only see the return to their popular Sunday Market Day of their faithful customers but that, having now cleared drainage and irrigation challenges that had habitually flooded their farms and put them ‘out of business’ for a protracted, they can expand their market.
They are hoping that at least some of the answers to their questions will come on Sunday when they ‘step out’ again hoping that the spirit of Christmas will serve as an additional incentive to bring back the crowd.
One expects, of course, that come Sunday, the vendors and their customers will find moments for gossip, including reflection on the heavy financial losses arising from flood losses and the considerable ‘down time’ that arose out of the need for work to be done by government to correct blocked canals that inhibited drainage and constantly left their farms ‘under water’. It took eighteen months and following letters to state agencies and meetings with government officials the canals were cleared and the ‘show’ is about to be returned to the ‘road.’
Mocha, over time, had earned the distinction of hosting one of the country’s more lively coastal markets, attracting buyers from ‘west of the river’ as well as the capital and several villages along the East Bank.
It has been a ‘long walk back’ for the farmers. Loss of income from their farms (for around eighteen months) and with families to support, some of them were forced to seek alternative employment. The more intrepid amongst them simply soldiered on, seeking higher ground on which to persist with their agricultural pursuits.
Nor was the eventual return to the land filled with a great deal of celebration. The conditions which the sustained flooding and the remedial works had left behind had meant that significant investments had to be made in order to restore their farms to some semblance of normalcy. In some instances the acquisition of drainage pumps became necessary whilst the disruption associated with remedial works meant the new drains had to be dug.
Nor are they done yet. There are other canals to be de-silted but the financial pressures associated with their long period away from the farms mean that the remedial works will have to be undertaken incrementally.
Restarting their farming pursuits apart the farmers are aiming to take the process forward. During the September meeting at which President Irfaan Ali was present some of the farmers had raised the issue of both shade houses and planting material. The hiatus, they believed, afforded an opportunity to build on what they had already accomplished.
Problems still persist. When the Stabroek Business spoke with the farmers recently we were told that in the absence of effective revetment, sand and dirt are finding their way into key drainage canals.
That said, the farmers are altogether focused on their Sunday December 18 resumption of their market day. Indeed, they insisted that we remind our readers that Sunday’s Market will be staged at Second Bridge, Mocha Main Access Road Big Tree.
What, the farmers say, is of vital importance at this juncture is that they reclaim, as quickly as possible, their customary clientele from villages along the East Bank corridor, west of the Demerara and Georgetown.
