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El Nino takes toll on East Bank communities
The current El Nino situation is taking a toll on almost ever farming community and on residents in Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara. They say that it is no different for them.
Several of the residents who spoke with this newspaper said that their community is hard hit by the dry weather. Many of them make a living by rearing poultry and planting cash crops.
Balram, a cash crop farmer of Garden of Eden pumping water from a canal to water his crop.
In addition, the surrounding communities are plagued with thick smoke which continues to billow into the air daily.
According to some of the affected people, the smoke is as a result of bush fires way down almost to the Conservancy.
Residents said the smoke is affecting them as it is continuous and creating minor health problems.
One shop owner of Second Street, Garden of Eden, Meena Mohabir, said that since the dry season started she was forced to stop rearing meat birds because there is inadequate water supply to the community. She added that she was at a loss, too, since the heat was too much for the birds.
According to Mohabir, during the early stage of the dry weather she was rearing the meat birds but had to stop because the trench water that she mixed with bleach to give to the birds proved unhealthy.
“I had to stop. Look all me pens empty; we ain’t getting water and the rain ain’t falling. Even the garden dying away because we not getting water; we using the trench water but that drying up too,” the woman related.
She said that currently everyone is relying on a water truck which comes around the area daily, compliments of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council.
Mohabir said that the truck comes every morning and households are allowed to fill as much as five gallons.
Another farmer, Balram, whom this newspaper caught up with while he was tending to his farm, said that if the dry season continues for another month that will be the end of his crops on which he and his family solely rely.
When Kaieteur News caught up with Balram he was seen pumping water from a nearby canal to water more than 20 beds of cabbage.
He said that daily, the canal water is reducing significantly and at that rate there is not much for the full life of his crops.
He too voiced his concern about the heavy smoke in the community. He said that it is very difficult for him to make his way in and out of the backlands early in the mornings.
“We know we can’t blame anyone for the smoke, but during the day it does die down but early in the morning you would believe it snowing in Guyana…This thing ain’t healthy,” Balram said.
Meanwhile, only last week President Bharrat Jagdeo, during a press conference, said that the El Nino fight could cost an additional $600M.
The President had said that the budget has catered for several programmes to help tackle the phenomenon but in his estimation the gravity of the situation has caused the government to invest additional funds.
He explained that a lot of water around the country is being pumped, something that is proving to be an expensive but necessary task. He added that the Amerindian communities have been hard hit.
The President explained that a team of Ministers has visited the interior and in some cases food had to be delivered.
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