Agriculture Ministry commences flood assessment at Mocha farmlands

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Monday kickstarted a flood assessment exercise in the Mocha Village area on the East Bank of Demerara, where he met with several farmers and residents.

A team, including National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Chairman, Lionel Wordsworth, and other officials and engineers from the Ministries of Agriculture and Housing and Water, were present to hear the concerns of stakeholders.
The visit was prompted after persistent rainfall over the past few days resulted in flooding in the farming areas. Minister Mustapha told farmers that the Ministry will work to ensure immediate measures are in place to assist with flooding in the farming areas.
The Minister stated, “They relayed their complaints that they were flooded out…They’re saying that the housing development that is taking place is causing the water to back up. Our engineers and the Housing Ministry’s engineers will be visiting all of the areas, including the housing areas, to see what we have to do to reduce flooding.”
Engineers from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority along with officers from other agencies attached to the Ministry are currently visiting the affected areas to determine the way forward.
Last Friday and Saturday, the high intensity of rainfall would have caused some degree of flooding in the community and other villages across the country.
Mustapha explained, “We will try to see as much as possible, what measures we will place here. By this afternoon (Monday), I should receive a report from NDIA to implement a system and see how we can manage it. We already have some machines in this area.”
The Hydrometeorological Service of the Agriculture Ministry has forecasted wetter than usual rainfall conditions across all regions of Guyana for the months of November 2022 to January 2023, otherwise known as Guyana’s secondary rainfall season.
The usual secondary rainfall season will be augmented by persistent La Nina conditions during the season. Rainfall is expected to increase considerably from mid-November and continue at least to January 2023.
During the upcoming rainy season, water levels in conservancies, reservoirs, and inland rivers across Regions One to Eight and 10 are likely to increase with a high risk of flooding. On the other hand, Region Nine would continue to be dry but can expect more than the usual amount of rainy days.