Following complaints from a Good Faith, Mahaicony farmer about infiltration of saltwater in the irrigation system and its effects on crops, the Ministry of Agriculture says that it will dispatch engineers to the area to investigate, as it is unaware of the issue.
“I am not aware of that but I will send the engineers tomorrow to check,” National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Head, Lionel Wordsworth, told Stabroek News on Sunday when contacted.
When Stabroek News last week visited Good Faith, 23-year-old cash crop farmer, Anil Bharrat lamented that his family was suffering from the effects of saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean seeping into the Mahaicony Creek which is used to irrigate crops.
“There are a lot of cash crop farmers in Mahaicony that does not have anything to help with the saltwater that seeps in the irrigation system and kill the crops. The government do not give us anything permanently to help with our crops,” he stated. “Our mouth is white for Christ-mas because of the same saltwater. Other farmers can testify to this. Nobody don’t come in the village and they don’t look into anything. I took a lots of loan and I lost about one point something million worth in cash crops, due to the saltwater contamination and sometimes we, farmers, do not get water to water the crops. When we do get water, everything gone,” he added.
Bharrat said that the farmers have reported the issue many times but nothing has been done. “We reported the problem many times to a representative from the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute but still NAREI never tell us anything. A guy who takes all the complaints to the higher authority about these issues affecting farmers on behalf of us said, he did report the matter a lots of time to the authority. But still, the authorities have not found a permanent solution for the problem.”
Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha said on Sunday that he was not aware of the issue but found it strange as Words-worth lives not far away from the community and would visit farmers regularly. It was he who referred this newspaper to Wordsworth.
In December of last year, Stabroek News had reported that farmers in the Mahaicony were experiencing challenges with their rice crop owing to the dry season and saltwater. Mustapha had met with the farmers earlier in December, and implemented a number of measures, one being to provide a bowser and irrigation water for the crops. “Right now, the problem is the water shortage to supply the rice field. I’m not getting the water and the rice is almost due [in 30 days] that need fertilizers and due to the water supply, we cannot use the fertilizer,” Gaganand Singh, a 35-year-old farmer of Wash Clothes Village had complained. He relayed that this had been a problem since the first week in November and that the minister visited farmers of the Mahaicony Creek on December 16 and promis-ed them water within a week’s time. However, the week passed and the farmers did not get the water as promised.
Singh had explained that he had been a rice farmer for the past 8 years and this was the first time he was experiencing this problem. He also pointed out that due to the lack of water, his rice yield had decreased. Also, to add to his woes, saltwater was present in the irrigation trenches. He noted that when it combines with the freshwater in the system, it gets to the rice field. “Some of the rice would get red and die,” he said. He explained that the saltwater gets into the system because there isn’t sufficient fresh water in the creek. “When the koker at Hyde Park, Mahaicony, opens and brings in the sweet [fresh] water in the trenches, the saltwater reach the koker, the saltwater will eventually get into the trenches [irrigation system].” He added that the saltwater then gets trapped in the trenches that farmers pump from onto their crops. Singh recalled seeing this happen several years ago when he was not yet a farmer, where the koker was blocked off by the government to help with the saltwater intrusion.
In early January of this year, the Guyana Rice Development Board had been directed to conduct salinity tests four times daily to monitor salt levels in the Mahaicony Creek, as the Agriculture Minister assured farmers that relief would be provided to ensure the continuous output of rice in the region. Additionally, he announc-ed that construction on the Hope canals would commence in the first quarter of this year, aiming to address drought-like conditions currently experienced.
However, Bharrat last week said that the problem still persists. “They gave us fertilizers and dig the canal but that doesn’t help; the saltwater still affects us… I’m a family of five inclusive, of my mother, father, wife and sister. Both my sister and I work to provide for our family. My father assist with planting the crops. I think the government should look into the problem of the saltwater…,” he said.