Cane Grove cattle rearers accuse rice farmers of flooding grazing land

May 12, 2021 News

Screen grab of the one of the videos, showing the impact of the floodwater on the cattle at Cane Grove.00

Some of the cattle farmers that are appealing for Government intervention.

Kaieteur News – Cattle rearers of Cane Grove, Mahaica, have expressed concerns over the ongoing flooding situation happening in their pasture, which they claim was a rice farmer’s fault.
According to the cattle farmers, the land is currently flooded with about three feet of water and this is because the rice farmer who is occupying the land next to theirs decided to block one of the two kokers that is crucial for drainage of the pasture. The resulting floodwater has affected some six hundred cattle and has since left some farmers counting their losses after some 15 cattle died and 25 have gone missing.

Cattle that died as a result of the flooding.

Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, Satram Baldeo, one of the cattle farmers said that the situation has been going on for about three months now. “The problem is, we have two kokers and a man name ‘Short Boy’ (the rice farmer) and his two sons, Jerry and Terry, block it with a two by four wood and that cause the savannah to flood out in Cane Grove,” he explained. According to him, the land that they are using to rear their cows was given to them by the Government some years back.
He lamented that the situation is much worse now since the rainy season has begun. In videos and pictures seen by this publication, sections of the land are indeed severely flooded, while in other sections, there is a small amount of land for the cows to graze on. Some cow carcasses were seen in an advanced state of decomp

osition and were partially submerged under the floodwater.

Another distressed cattle farmer who said rearing cattle is his way of providing for his family, is pleading with the relevant authorities to look into their plight. The farmers said that since the situation started, they have been making numerous reports and visits to the Cane Grove Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, but have gotten no satisfaction.
When Kaieteur News made contact with the NDC Chairperson, Keshni Rooplall, for a comment on the situation, she said “I wish not to comment on that. I think that matter has reached to the level of the Ministry and the Ministry would be putting some measures in place shortly.”
Contacted for a comment, the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, said that he was recently made aware of the issue and has instructed an engineer to visit the area, who will be accessing the situation to see how the flooding can be fixed.

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