MMA fights to save cattle, rice, sugar in face of El Nino

Feb 20, 2010 News

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The  Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary/Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) is waging  a back-to-the-wall battle to save  cattle, sugar , rice, and other agricultural crops in Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) from the clutches of the unrelenting  drought, Chairman Rudolph Gajraj,  said yesterday.
“In the Abary/Berbice block, Blairmont estate with 14,000 acres on the ground is currently grinding, adding significantly to their water needs. They have described their irrigation situation to us as desperate,” he said.
“In the Mahaicony/Abary block, salt water has intruded into the Mahaicony River at the Governor Light area (some  14 kilometers from the river mouth) and we estimate that if the situation continues, it may reach Mora Point (19 kilometers miles from the river  mouth) during the coming February/March spring tides. That water cannot be used for irrigation”.
He continued:  “In the   Mahaica/Mahaicony area, the third general area, the situation is most difficult. Of 18,000 acres of rice lands, only 8,200 acres were planted.  As of February 16, we have to regrettably acknowledge as having lost about 600 acres of the 18,000 acres sown.
“Another 3,500 acres are currently under serious threat mainly in the Handsome Tree/ No 10 areas on the right bank of the Mahaica River and those areas from the railway embankment to the Industry canal aback of the villages from Quaker’s Hall to Now or Never”.
He said, too, that there are about 20,000 head of cattle in this Mahaica/Mahaicony area, the main grazing grounds being from the Public road to the sea shore and the upper areas on the left bank of the Mahaicony River.  Drinking water is now scarce in the public road/sea shore area”.
The Chairman outlined the dire straits of agricultural production in Region Five on Thursday and also spoke about some of the interventions the Authority was making despite the main source of supply, the Abary Conservancy being 2.75 feet below dead storage level.
He said that in the Abary/Berbice block there are 39,500 acres of rice under cultivation in different stages; over 30,000 heads of cattle have to be watered; and there are about 2,300 acres of cash crops.
But the Abary Conservancy which provides water for this block is currently at the level of 56.75 G.D – which is 2.75 feet below its dead storage level (DSL – 59.5 G.D.)
The MMA/ADA is fighting back in the Abary/Berbice block by reducing the abstractions from the conservancy to a rate that should see the dwindling supplies lasting through to March 15.
The Authority has also instituted a total shutdown of the drainage system in this block and Guysuco’s Blairmont Estate will have to conserve supplies and manage with lower water levels. They have been advised not to do any new cultivation (planting) until the situation improves.
The outlook for the rice crop is that 50 to 70-days old rice cultivations in this block should be alright. Rice between 21 and 50 days should also pull through with some pumping. The young rice, those younger than 21 days will face threats.
Pumping for most of the life of this very late crop will have to be done, Gajraj disclosed.
Cattle farmers will continue to get supplies pumped from the main canal and those on the left bank will pump from the upper Abary River above the rice areas. With pasture feed now a problem, supplemental feeding is urgently required.
In the second area, the Mahaicony/Abary block there are 16,000 acres of rice under cultivation. About 3000 acres have only lately been planted. The majority between 25 to 55 days old.
About 8,000 to 10,000 heads of cattle are reared in this area and there is a small amount of cash crop cultivation also, all under threat.
Irrigation supplies are sourced from the rivers, primarily the Mahaicony River but salt water intrusion from the Atlantic is the major problem.
The lower areas north of MARDS – in particular Champayne -are currently under some stress. No water can be sourced from the river from where they usually take their supplies because of the salt intrusion.
The situation is worsened because farmers in the upper areas of the irrigation system have been inconsiderately hogging the limited supplies that the MMA/ADA has been pumping at Mora Point.
In the Mahaicony /Abary Block the Burma main drainage channel has been shut down with a stop-off. If necessary, additional stop-offs are to be constructed at Hyde Park across the Mahaicony façade and the Hyde Park drain to prevent salt water intrusion.
The regulation of pumping activity is to be intensified with the enforcing of time-runs for specific areas. Upper reach farmers will be restrained to allow the lower end farmers to source some supplies.
A pumping point on the Mahaicony River is to be located further up the river if the salt front moves further inland as is expected. This would entail moving the mobile pump currently sited at Mora to complement the fixed station pumps, and the mobilising of an additional pump from Berbice.
Other measures being implemented in the Mahaicony/Abary block are excavation works to link the Jugdeo canal at Lopes Turn/Burma Distributory junction to a new channel from the Mahaicony river at the new pumping location with the possible use of existing private canals.
In the Mahaica/Mahaicony block, salt water intrusion in the Mahaica River is also a big problem, exacerbated ironically by the pumping from the river for the East Demerara conservancy.
Currently, salt water has reached the Grass Hook area in the Mahaica River and Governor Light on the Mahaicony River.
This means that there is no existing available source on the Mahaica through which irrigation water can be supplied into the cultivation areas, and while there are still available points on the upper Mahaicony, the areas that can be served are limited to the first and second depth cultivations.
A major intervention is currently underway to construct a canal from the Perth/Biabu main canal to the Kuliserabo creek mouth on the Mahaica River.
“We are hoping to source supplies from this channel into the Perth/Biabu main canal by Feb 21,” the Chairman disclosed.
Regulation of pumping activities is necessary and will become mandatory on completion of the new channel at Kuliserabo.
The Chairman disclosed that the situation in Region 5 in the grip of El Nino will continue to pose serious challenges to the MMA/ADA.
“While all indications so far indicate that we will be able to get supplies from the link to Kuliserabo/Mahaica River, we cannot be sure that those supplies will see the entire crop through.
“The overall hope is that with strict enforcement of regulations, we may be able to minimise losses of rice crop to below 1500 acres.”

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