Dear Editor,
When I read a letter in the Kaieteur News under the caption ‘Failure of Agriculture’, I had to look at the date, since I thought that the letter writer would be describing what took place during the Coalition’s period in Government, from 2015 to 2020. But I was aghast and stunned when I discovered that the letter writer was referring to the agriculture sector under this Government, and under the stewardship of the most competent Agriculture Minister ever.
The letter in question is not only replete with falsehoods and generalizations, but is malicious, has no merit, and even contains slanderous innuendos. No one in a reasonable state of mind would conclude that there is a ‘failure in agriculture’ under this Government, and what is most disappointing is that the letter is devoid of any data or factual information to substantiate the falsehood peddled. Simply using the word “evident” does not provide evidence, so I would like the writer to refer to the Bank of Guyana Report for the first quarter of this year, and therein he/she would be provided with evidence that rice production grew by 73.3% to 192,269 metric tons, compared to one year earlier.
According to the Report, ‘this performance is largely attributed to higher acreage cultivated (the writer claimed that land is abandoned), innovative technologies such as the use of drones and geographic information systems (GIS); as well as the high-yielding, bio-fortified, zinc-enriched rice variety’.
The writer claimed that ‘much land is not being planted’, but if that statement is true, then ‘productivity’ has increased a thousandfold; but, according to him/her, ‘productivity has declined everywhere’.
The Report further stated that the fishing industry has recorded a 52.4 percent increase in fish catches and a 4.7 percent increase in shrimp output. Sugar contracted by 46% mainly due to the prolonged dry weather condition (El Nino) which affected the growth of the sugarcane plants.
What the letter writer needs to understand is that agriculture is affected by the vagaries of the weather.
Currently, there is a prolonged and extreme wet condition, and even though the flood water would accumulate quickly, it will recede in a shorter time than before, thanks to the drainage and irrigation infrastructure which the Government has put in place.
It would be elucidating for the writer to reflect on the 2021/2022 floods, the devastating drought in 2023, and yet again the current La Nina phenomenon, and check what the Agriculture Minister has done to ensure proper and timely drainage and irrigation as the case may be, and the financial and other assistance given to all farmers, including livestock.
This Government saved the Agriculture Sector.
Further, the writer seemed oblivious of the massive mechanized transformation taking place in the sugar industry; the transformation of the fields into machine- friendly layouts and the investments in mechanized cane harvesters, etc. The positive results of these will be seen during the second crop this year, and the following year will be even better. The writer needs to keep abreast with the transformation taking place and the plethora of new and non-traditional crops. The construction of the all- weather road at No 58 Village that has created a link to the Canje Creek and has opened up more than 50,000 acres of new lands for various types of crops seemed to have eluded the writer. The writer claimed that such development is a ‘conduit’ for corruption. That is sheer baloney, since these are tangible developments which even the blind could see.
Ironically, he/she mentioned ‘pump stations’. The writer needs to do some actual site visits. It would seem that he/she cannot recall that the Coalition had bought 12 defective and undersized ‘fire pumps’ to be used in flood situations.
Neither could the writer recall the slashing of the Agriculture Budget on an annual basis in an attempt to destroy the sector, which is perceived as belonging to PPP supporters; nor can the writer recall that the Coalition had stated that agriculture is private business. Agriculture was dying under an inept minister and an equally incompetent Coalition Government.
Lastly, every public official has to submit financial statements of assets and liabilities to the Integrity Commission annually, and it is the responsibility of this Commission to make the necessary findings and judgements.
Mr Editor, mischievous, deceptive and malicious statements have no place in our society, and letter writers should do some fact checking before putting pen to paper.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
