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El Nino plight has not lessened – Luncheon

Apr 09, 2010 News

The plight brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon has not lessened, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon said yesterday of the drought-like conditions that have battered rice and sugar crops and caused food shortages in indigenous communities.
The government is struggling to irrigate farmland, with water at storage points reaching dangerously low levels.
Despite signs of rain (ominous whenever there is international cricket in Guyana) and prayers for an end to the drought by Muslims, Luncheon said the dry spell looks like it will continue to the end of this month and possibly into May. The period May-June is usually one of two rainy seasons in Guyana.
Luncheon said potable water deficiency is making life difficult for people in the hinterland.
Recently, President Bharrat Jagdeo said “the Amerindian communities are really badly hit” saying the government will have to significantly increase the distribution of food to the indigenous people.
Luncheon said the plan is to dig deeper wells in the hinterland, operated by solar systems and provide additional help so the people can revive their means of livelihood. The dry spell has created severe problems in the agricultural sector.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation said cane growth and development has been affected at five of its eight estates. Replanting had to be cut back on four estates, it said.
The Corporation said the full impact on sugar production would not be known until the end of the second crop of 2010.
Export earnings from sugar fell 10.2 percent in 2009 to $119.8 million from a year earlier and rice export earnings fell 3.3 percent to $114.1 million.
Luncheon said that at the end of March there was an additional spending of $300 million to manage the situation.
The government has previously said it set aside $268 million in efforts to manage irrigation and bring relief to those without drinking water.

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