– Region 10 Chairman says farmers abandoning farmlands
The riverine community of Dalliwala, situated in Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice), is a little farming community with just more than 20 farmers, who have depended on farming and selling their produce for a livelihood over the years.
It is accessible by boat, with farmers utilising these very boats to dock at various points along the Demerara River, and in Linden, to sell their produce.
Crops at Dalliwala
Farmer Yogeshwar Rhambarrat, who hails from this community, has said more persons can become empowered through farming, but the community has, over the years, not received the much-needed help from the authorities in order to boost farming.
According to Rhambarrat, these farmers contribute significantly to the food market in nearby Linden, and had even supplied food to areas outside of Linden during the 2005 floods. He explained that more can be done if assistance is given.
“Let’s say (that) if Linden is producing 30 percent of the food for itself, Dalliwala alone (is) producing about 15 (percent). You can come out in the mornings and see the little engine boats providing greens, even wholesale… Imagine (what can happen if) if we get assistance; we ain’t only sending (produce) to Georgetown, we can send to the Caribbean, we can send to the interior. But we need some help; you gotta help the man who’s producing and who’s making (farming) a livelihood”, he pointed out.
Region 10 Chairman, Renis Morian, during a recent statutory meeting of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), signalled interest in providing assistance and re-developing farming in the area, noting that the community’s farmers are abandoning their farmlands.
Morian said the Council is awaiting support from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority. “…they would have asked for a supplementary budget, so they could buy another machine that we could put at Dalliwala…we’re pushing the farmlands at Dalliwala. (They have) been abandoned for more than 15 years. The farmers have left the farms…,” the Chairman told the Region 10 Councillors.
Rhambarrat has denied that the farmlands have been abandoned, but he says farming has been scaled down because of the lack of intervention, improper drainage, inability of farmers to access farmlands, and lack of a proper market facility, among other issues.
“Dalliwala is not abandoned…farming is being done at Dalliwala on a reasonable scale,” Rhambarrat has said.
Rhambarrat, who spoke very passionately about issues affecting farmers, has stressed that whenever assistance comes, it is mainly directed to farmers at West Watooka, Linden. He pointed mainly to the lack of land and market facilities specifically for farmers as the main requirements for farming.
“All the Governments they have, previous and now, they’re very tight-handed in releasing the lands; and land is the foundation of farming. How are we going to farm (if) we don’t have land? We don’t have leases… A lease empowers the farmers to access finance, and if you don’t have a lease, you can’t access nothing”, Rhambarrat said.
Stressing that a lease can be used to secure farming materials on hire purchase, Rhambarrat added that because there is no farmers’ market, some farmers are forced to ride and sell their produce.
“This is probably the only town in Guyana that doesn’t have a farmers’ market,” he opined.
Drainage
Rhambarrat said the previous administration had promised the community 2 canals in addition to roads; however, to date, this promise has not been fulfilled.
He opined that leaders appear to just be “talking” agriculture, but not “doing” enough for agriculture and small farmers in Dalliwala.
He also stressed that farmlands become inundated during heavy rainfall, cutting off the supply of oxygen to the plants.
“That is why we want the intervention of the Government, to get some greenhouses so we can sustain a little pakchoi and ochro and bora”, he said.
The farmer pointed out that it is discouraging to see trucks with produce to sell heading into the Linden community from other places when the region’s needs can be supplied by its farmers.
