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More land on EBB to be cultivated this year
EAST BANK BERBICE
– Region Six Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha is optimistic that more farmlands on the East Bank of Berbice should be cultivated this year as a result of the drainage and irrigation executed in 2008.
According to him, the projects cost approximately $50 million. Some of the ventures included the rehabilitation of the Mara Crown Dam, revetment at Plegt Anker, RC structures constructed at Ma Retraite, and restoration of some canals within the Ma Retraite area.
Region Six Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha
Two drainage canals along East Bank Berbice, between Highbury and Lighttown, were also repaired and sluices were serviced.
The Regional Chairman said that the excavator owned by the administration was used to carry out work in several other areas.
This year, he anticipates that areas along the East Bank of Berbice would once again live up to its agricultural potential.
According to him, restoration work is in progress on the Kortbraadt sluice door. At Lonsdale a revetment programme to the tune of $25 million is to be carried out on both banks leading to the Berbice River from the Lonsdale Sluice.
Work is also to be carried out at sluice at Zorg en Vlygt, some 20 miles outside New Amsterdam.
These projects are aimed at preventing water, from the Berbice River, from getting into the cultivation area. Several other canals within the Mara/Ma Retraite are to be looked at under this year’s Capital and Current Work Programmes.
This year, the Ma Retraite Community Road is to be rehabilitated at a cost of $5 million. This is one of the roads farmers have been constantly complaining about over the years. There are times when farmers must leave their communities as early as mid-night to travel to New Amsterdam and other areas to vend their produce. During the rainy season the thoroughfare becomes impassable and this affects business to an extent.
When completed farmers would spend less time commuting and would result in less damage to produce.
This one-mile Ma Retraite Community Road is to be a joint project between the community and the Region Six Administration. The administration is providing the material, technical advice, supervision and machinery and residents are to execute the job themselves. This in turn would create jobs for 25 persons within that community.
Mr. Mustapha said that in the past only one farmer in
the Highbury area cultivated rice and for the next crop ten other farmers have signaled their intention of returning to the land. Some plots are presently being prepared for the second rice crop.
Cash crop production on the East Bank of Berbice is also expected to bloom, he said. According to him, every week Technical Officers (Crops) within the Region Six Administration meet with farmers on the East bank of Berbice.
No mention was made of the main thoroughfare on the East Bank of Berbice. Drivers have been very critical of this stretch of roadway and the damage done to their vehicles.
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