"Only complete land demarcation will solve issue between cattle and rice farmers" - Region Six Chairman

“Only complete land demarcation will solve issue between cattle and rice farmers” – Region Six Chairman

Feb 28, 2019 News

Cows grazing in the rice lands

The dispute between cattle and rice farmers in Region Six has raised many questions, with very few answers and solutions to the problem.
Just recently, there were reports that several cattle were allegedly shot dead by rice farmers. This was dubbed as an alarming development in the agricultural sector throughout the region.
Over the years, during the past and present administration, there was never a solution that could have tamed the situation before it escalated to a point where it could not be controlled.
Rice and cattle farmers, instead of working together to develop the agricultural landscape of the region, are now engaged in a bitter dispute.
Regional Chairman, David Armogan, has suggested that the only way the issue could be dissolved is to completely demarcate lands within the farming areas, to separate cattle and rice farming.
For this process to kick off, a geometric plan has to be developed by the Guyana Lands and Surveying Department, that particular plan, will in itself, specify the course of a boundary staked out.
“They need to be complete demarcation with a fence, the facilities of water and so need to be put into the cattle area because people are just grazing all over the place because no area is designated for cattle,” the chairman stated.
Armogan further said, “You have to demarcate where cattle should be and where rice land should be.” He explained that there are no stringent laws and regulations in the region and there never was, in relation to agricultural land but that in itself “is what is causing the problem, everybody is doing everything everywhere. There was never a land policy in place”, he said.
Prime Minister’s Representative to Region Six, Gobin Harbhajan, had previously indicated that he had made moves to have in place a notice served to cattle farmers whose animals would have damaged rice crops.
The notice detailed that the rice farmers will be compensated for whatever damages took place due to the actions of the cattle. However, the Regional Chairman told Kaieteur News that, that system has always been in place and it is not something new that is being activated.
Armogan expounded that “there is a rice assessment committee headed by a magistrate/lawyer (legal person). Whatever damages are done to rice, that is what the rice assessment committee is for. It goes to assess the damage and whoever is responsible for the damage will pay.
That has always been there for years”. He opined that although it is a temporary way cushioning the issue, having notices served with consideration for compensation will not solve it.
He added that at some point the Agriculture Minister was actively looking into the situation to designate the Kookrit Savannah area, where the problem exists, as a communal pasture, “because if you give parcels of land to people, maybe they can develop it by themselves for cattle rearing but if you do that, the future people coming in now who want to get into cattle rearing will have no land to do so”.
A decision was made during the last regime to not give out parcels of land, but to rather convert the Kookrit Savannah into a communal pasture, since that is what it was designed to do, Armogan said.
He admitted that the major hurdle would be to stop persons from planting rice in the Kookrit Savannah area “and that is why no politician wants to make that decision because it will cause problems for people”.
Over the years rice farmers have complained that cattle farmers are allowing their animals to graze on their land, damaging their crops in the process. They had told the media that they tried engaging with the cattle farmers about the issue but they had never shown any interest in resolving the problems.
Farmers complained that they endured millions of dollars in losses, while some were adamant on getting the authorities involved, some had threatened to take matters into their own hands. It was only last week some cattle were found shot and killed, that matter is currently still under investigation by police in Berbice.

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