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Rainfall pounds agriculture sector

Mar 15, 2011 News

…Gov’t looks to India for more pumps

Heavy rainfall over recent days is threatening the rice and sugar harvests. The result is that the Ministry of Agriculture is looking to the public to help monitor the operations of pump stations to drain as much water off the land as possible.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said that the government is looking to close a financing agreement of US$4 million with India for more drainage equipment. He said that an additional 15 mobile pumps and 25 excavators are needed.
Rainfall since Thursday last has averaged 2.4 inches, and this is putting a strain on the drainage system. The problem is compounded when pump operators do not turn out to work.
Persaud is calling on members of the public living next to pump operators to ensure they get out of bed and open the sluices so water can flow out.
“Every rainy season we fire a set of people,” Persaud said, among them tardy sluice and pump operators.
The East Demerara Water Conservancy, which stores water for use in the dry season, is at a critical level, the Minister said.
When the conservancy dam is threatened because the water level rises, water is flushed out into the Mahaica and Mahaicony creeks, exacerbating flooding for those riverain communities.
The government is pushing ahead with a project to build a Canal at Hope to drain the water from the conservancy. Actual digging of the canal should have commenced yesterday but the rainy weather has put a pause on this.
Rice farmers are among the worst affected by the rainy weather. Roopan Ramotar, from the Essequibo Coast, said that he expects to lose 70 per cent of this crop if the rain persists and proper measures are not in place to drain the fields.
Ramotar plants 400 acres of rice. But it is not the drenched fields alone that are cause of worry for him.
He planted the No. 10 variety of paddy. But with the rains, paddy almost ready for harvesting, is now re-germinating in the fields. Almost 60 per cent of the paddy is germinating on the live plant, Ramotar lamented, and he has asked the Agriculture Ministry to investigate.
Minister Persaud said that harvesting of sugar is also on a standstill, with most of the sugar estates not grinding. There is also worry that cash crops could also go down the drain.
The largest amount of rainfall over recent days has been at De Kindren, West Coast Demerara, where some 8.9 inches was recorded by the Hydromet Office.
The Hydromet Office is predicting cloudy conditions with rain through to Friday, with fairer weather expected at the weekend.

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