Latest update March 27th, 2026 12:40 AM
Relief interventions begin in flood-hit Black Bush Polder
(Kaieteur News) – As part of the government’s promise to bring relief to cash crop and rice farmers in Black Bush Polder, who were hit with massive losses due to heavy rainfall at the weekend, Chairman of Region Six, Junior Bassant visited East Berbice Corentyne village on Monday to assess the ongoing relief measures.
The chairman and team visited Mibicuri, Yakusari, Lesbeholden and Johanna and evaluated work which began on Sunday to drain water off the land.
Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, on Sunday, assured frustrated farmers of government’s support, and instructed the agencies under his purview to immediately assess and respond to the flood situation.
Regional Chairman Junior Bassant (right) engaging a resident on the flooding situation in Black Bush Polder on Monday. 📸 || RDC Region 6 photo
As such, interventions were made by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and other key agencies.
While in the area, Bassant engaged the residents and pledged the region’s coordinated effort in resolving the setbacks.
On Sunday, several excavators were dispatched to the affected areas within the village, which were directly affected by the high-water buildup. Presently, there are eight excavators operating in the area.
Cholaram Beerbusham said he lost at least $2 million worth of produce.
Devika Lekaran lost poultry and a couple of baby sheep.
The chairman was joined by Vice Chairman, Wajid Saheed Khan and the relevant agencies within the agriculture ministry.
On Sunday, farmers were counting the millions of dollars in losses caused by continual, heavy rainfall that left hundreds of acres of farmlands inundated.
Kaieteur News had visited the area on Sunday, where several pump systems were activated to remove the floodwaters. However, farmers relayed that the situation was not solely caused by the downpour over the weekend, but rather a combination of factors.
While acknowledging the downpour as a natural phenomenon, improper or inadequate drainage arrangements to mitigate the effects of flooding is a view the farmers have collectivised, holding also that they did not experience an accumulated full day’s rainfall. Another factor too is that of some residents draining massive amounts of water from their property which spills over to the lower or adjacent areas and floods same.
This caused major damages to crop over the last two days.
Minister Mustapha had addressed the issues with the aggrieved farmers. While there, he updated them on the deployment of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and other relevant agencies to assess and tackle the situation, and assured of support for the farmers.
Those agencies, the minister confirmed, “are going around to see what are the conditions, and losses farmers would have suffered. I don’t think rice farmers would have suffered any major losses. The cash crop farmers, however, are complaining that their crops are under water. We will be working to do an assessment to see what help we can give them.”
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