Cabinet approves $29M for emergency works to access dams

…over 1800 farmers set to benefit

The Agriculture Ministry has announced a decision by Cabinet on Thursday, which will see the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) receiving $29 million to commence rehabilitation works to several access dams across the country.
These works will roll out in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said that the works are considered urgent, as some 91,580 acres of rice field are currently under threat due to inaccessible dams.
“Farmers have been complaining about the current state of these dams. Due to the severity of the last rainy season, the NDIA and the various Regional Administrations were unable to carry out much-needed repairs and maintenance to over 227,000 rods of access dams. Farmers will suffer millions in losses if we do not carry out these works immediately for them to be able to harvest their rice for the upcoming autumn crop,” Minister Mustapha said.
The funds will also facilitate repair to an additional 101,942 rods of dams that were damaged due to continuous use by farmers. With fields yielding an average of 40 bags per acre, farmers are expected to harvest over 3,663,000 bags of paddy with an estimated value of $10.2 billion.
It was reiterated that rice remains one of Guyana’s largest export earners, grossing over US$222 million in 2019. Government is currently in the process of preparing for a four-month budget that will see the Ministry of Agriculture carrying out additional emergency works to a number of drainage and irrigation structures and access dams across the country.
In less than one month since his appointment, Minister Mustapha has already engaged a large scope of farmers to hear their concerns and remedy their issues.
In January, rice farmers had lost over 6000 acres of rice on the Corentyne, due to a blocked canal in the area which was preventing the water from flowing freely into the rice fields.
Heavy vegetation in the Manarbisi Main Canal was significantly impeding the flow of water to rice fields on the Corentyne and rice farmers who operate between Numbers 52 and 74 Villages and along villages adjacent to the Black Bush Polder have been accusing the regional administration of not supplying adequate water for their crops.
The farmers have claimed that the pump stations in Black Bush Polder and Manarbisi have not been operating to their full capacity and as such, irrigation water is not reaching far-flung villages. (G12)