Black Bush Polder farmers protest as crops dying from floodwaters

Farmers who cultivate land at Lesbeholden, Black Bush Polder in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) took to the streets on Friday in protest over authorities’ lack of timely intervention during the current rainy season, which has resulted in both cultivation and residential communities being flooded.
The farmers say the flooding is caused by the outfall channel at Adventure being blocked.
Almost every family in Lesbeholden is engaged in some form of farming activity; either rice, cash crops, fruits, or livestock.
Most of the area is under rice cultivation and according to some farmers, there is too much water for the young rice plants.
Back in April, as preparations were being made for the rainy season, regional officials told this publication that all of the outfalls were blocked, but stated that they could not be cleared unless there was heavy rainfall.
If they were cleared at that time when the rain was not falling there would be siltation again in about two weeks and it would be money wasted.
Guyana Times was told that contracts to have the outfall channels desilted were signed back then and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) was waiting on the right time to give the green light to contractors to commence desilting the outfall channels.
That process started this week but the farmers argued that this is being done too late and they are suffering. This prompted the protest which they staged at Adventure – one of the entrances to the four polders.
Wasir Sriram, a rice and cash crop farmer who has 50 acres under rice cultivation and a larger quantity of land with vegetables, says they had five days of continuous rainfall prior to Friday.
“We sow paddy about a week ago and now the water is so high in the canal and it is not receding. The cash crops, they are all dying. I have about 300 papaya trees and about 250 sweet pepper plants. The papaya is at the fruiting stage now so I will not be able to estimate what my losses will be but the sweet pepper with the price now at $200 a pound, it is close to $1 million I would lose,” he pointed out.
Another farmer, Tiwari Bisham, who is a rice and cash crop farmer with 14 acres under rice cultivation, said he used a pump for 48 hours to get water off of the land.
“It is not plenty rain we had that we should get this kind of flood, it is the channel that block up. I have 1000 roots bora and the roots water sap, my rice and my cash crop underwater. Twelve days I sow the rice and it is not showing as yet because of how much water, I don’t know what to do,” he lamented.
Meanwhile, Seenarine Ramlakan, a cash crop farmer also of Lesbeholden, related that he is a small farmer with 140 bora plants but they are dying.
“The water is not reseeding,” he sadly stated.
Additionally, he cultivates two vined vegetables which are also in danger.
“Just behind my house wall about a foot away from the wall, they have about four inches of water,” he added.
While most rice farmers are into the autumn crop, Mukish Persaud Mani has not completed harvesting his spring crop. He explained that the rice took longer than usual to mature because of disease. However, he had to halt harvesting because of the water logged in his rice fields.
“Now I can’t get to cut the rice, the water is too much on the rice. Right now, I need assistance but how, because the water is going nowhere. I don’t know what to do,” the farmer complained.
Lament Leacock, another farmer, further highlighted that it was not just the cultivation areas that were inundated but also the homestead.
“The water is too much for me, all of my pepper flood, all my okra; even down to the ducks swim away and the fowls, they living in the trees. Although the water is plenty, I could manage to walk out and go through the water but I have to hoist my children out to go to school.”
He noted that even with the sluice door opened the water was not receding.
“Out there blocked so the water can’t run,” he added.
The Region Six Administration has since asked the contractors to work continuously to clear the outfall while pumps are put into operation when the tide is high. (G4)