Corentyne cash crop farmers protest EPA over pollution by rice mill

Cash crop farmers of Bengal Village on the Corentyne Coast in East Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) on Thursday picketed the office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at Whim Village, claiming that the EPA has not been paying attention to their concerns despite the numerous complaints that were made.

According to them, a rice mill at Bengal has been releasing its waste water into a canal which leads into the drainage canal from which they source water for their crops.
Some of these farmers claim that they have already suffered tremendous losses after using the water from the canal. Fish in the canal have also been dying in their numbers, they claim.
One farmer, Cecil Davis, explained that there is, between the rice mill and his farm, a drain that is used to collect the waste water from the mill, which he and other farmers were forced to block at Bengal to prevent the rice mill’s waste water from entering their farm lands.
“The water is stink and black,” he declared. “We can’t do farming with that water,” he said.
According to Davis, the Macedonia/Joppa Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) have both instructed the owner of the rice mill to clear the drain.
“I come in to the Environmental Protection place here about two months ago, and they tell us that they would call us, and up to now we ent hear anything from them… Is me and a few more farmers were here,” the cash crop farmer said.
Cash crop farmer Marcus Batson is adamant that the owner of the rice mill did not inform them of his intention to release the waste water into the drainage system, and as such, he is also being severely affected.
Meanwhile, this publication visited the area and met Premwattie Bhudah, who was also on the protest line. She explained her plight.
“Ah wata kill out all me peppa! Me na get non peppa no mo,” she said in her native Corentyne accent.

Farmers and millers clash
Meanwhile, as the farmers moved to block the canal leading to the farmlands, the Police were called in to intervene, and this led to the arrest of two farmers.
Sohan Budhi, another farmer, told the media that he and his brother, Mohan Budhan, were placed into the Police jeep without being told what offence they had committed.
“He [the rice miller] get a lot of contacts. He just make a call [phone call] and the Police come. They come and chuck me behind my neck and tell me to go in the jeep…”
The matter has since been reported to a senior Police officer.
In an invited comment, owner and operator of Rambrich Enterprise, Leekha Rambrich, said the drain behind his mill was blocked by the farmers, and as a result, the water began to ferment.
“It is about five weeks they blocked the drain, and with the pigs that they own going in and turning it up with the burnt paddy shells in there, it started to ferment and so there was a smell. The water being released into the drainage system is fresh water from the rice mill.”
Rambrich noted that on Tuesday he contacted the NDC and the NDIA, and was able to get the drain behind his mill cleared. He contends that it was the NDIA which had blocked the drainage canal, thus preventing any water from the mill to go into the cultivation area.
He explained that the NDIA intends to place a tube with a self-acting door, so that there could still be drainage of the farmlands.
Nevertheless, he admitted that the smoke damaged a few coconut trees owned by cash crop farmers in the area.
Efforts to get a comment from the EPA were futile, but the officer in charge of the local office at Whim has promised to address the media on the concerns of the farmers relative to the environment.