The Burma Access Road at Mahaicony, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) is in its most deplorable state and farmers are now overly frustrated, owing to their struggles to access hundreds of acres of rice for many months.
Guyana Times was contacted by residents on Saturday, who were up in arms about the current situation. The roadway is filled with large crates, and this coupled with the rainy season is now causing the holes to accumulate rainwater. As such, it is extremely difficult for equipment and other large vehicles to traverse the area.
Time is also lost since it takes nearly twice as much time to traverse the access road to prevent any major damages. It was noted that while part of the road is partially covered with asphalt, other sections are made up of silt – which disintegrates after a shower of rain.
Current state of the Burma Access Road, Mahaicony, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice)
“The water just wash away the top layer on the road and it’s one big mess. The road soft and when the tractor drive over, that’s what causing the big [holes]. People have crops there and it’s a real frustrating situation we facing as farmers. Since 2018, we ask for them to fix it and nothing till now,” the one resident said.
The Burma Road provides access to 450 acres of cultivated land, while the Mahaicony Branch Road allows access to 25,000 acres of land. Both roads are in a deplorable state, with countless pleas by farmers for it to be rehabilitated.
Residents said they were promised a complete restoration of the structure, along with the placement of street lights along the stretch. However, Central Government and the regional officials have failed to do anything about the situation.
Last October, these farmers had complained that they were disenfranchised from accessing viable markets due to the situation at that time.
Regional Vice Chairman Rian Pieters was then asked by this publication about the lack of initiative by the regional administration to assist rice farmers in the region but he said the issue is not one the region can solve nor take the blame for.
According to Pieters at that time, it is not the regional administration that must be blamed but rather the Finance Ministry. He said that the regional administration has been trying to get the roads fixed but the Finance Ministry has not allowed them.
Meanwhile, former Regional Chairman Bindrabhan Bisnauth, himself a rice farmer, had told this publication that they are losing money because they are unable to take their paddy to preferred markets.
“We do not have access to get to any other mill. Because of the impassable state of the road, farmers are now caught between a hard rock and I do not know what else, but we do not have access to get to any other mills… And because of the competition, we as farmers are losing because we cannot compete for a better price.”
According to the former Regional Chairman, they were only getting $3000 for a bag of paddy from the mill at Burma while other mills in the region are paying $3100 per bag. This means that farmers are losing in excess of $30,000 for every ten acres of rice being cultivated.
Now, they are describing their woes as “two times worse” than it was last year.
