Farmers await all-weather road to transport canes to Uitvlugt

Wales Estate aftermath

…many abandon standing cane

By Shemuel Fanfair

Fifteen months after the Wales Sugar Estate was shuttered, private farmers on the lower West Bank of Demerara (WBD) are left wondering when they would be able to transport their produce via an all-weather road that Government, through the Agriculture Ministry announced would be constructed from Wales to Uitvlugt. Guyana Times had reported that some farmers, including those from Canal Number One and La Retraite, WBD, had cleared a make-shift route to transport their canes to the West Coast Demerara estate. This transport route was said to be an expensive undertaking for farmers.

Speaking to this newspaper recently, some of the affected farmers have complained that with the inclement weather conditions, access through the backlands has become nearly impossible. To date, many farmers at Bellvue, Good Intent, La Retraite and elsewhere have left their canes in their lands, with some turning to alternative crops, while others have packed up and left the area.
Former private farmer, Mootooveren (only name given) was one of the frustrated farmers who turned to cash crop farming. The Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara native noted that he left the area because he did not see a future in Wales.
“Me give up cane, me stop plant cane and me come home back. Me deh Machaicony, me done with Wales, I doing cash crop farming at Mahaicony. It’s not too bad; but you not getting as much earnings as with sugar but you got to try to make it out somehow,” the father of two told Guyana Times.
“After it close down, me pack up and leff everything. The land still there, the trailer still there. Is only if they open back Wales then abbe ah go back,” Mootooveren explained.
He observed that while he does not have loans as is the case with other farmers, many of his colleagues are struggling to upkeep their payments.
Roger Caryll, who invested in developing three acres of cane lands before Wales Estate closed, is one of the farmers who still has outstanding debts. He is hopeful that the road will be constructed.
“It hold back me crop right now because the place bad and I can’t get to pull me cane because the road never build. We an getting no help from [Guyana Sugar Corporation] GuySuCo or nothing,” he observed.
Over the past several years, the weather patterns have altered as intermittent downpours are constantly being seen; a contention which has been shared by many in the farming sector. The absence of the all-weather road to Uitvlugt is upsetting to farmers.
“Is Number Two Canal, La Retraite, Stanleytown, all them canes get stall up right now and when I cut out this crop, I done with cane. I ain’t finish off paying for my equipment up to now and Government never even come in to say ‘well, I will assist you or nothing’. Since this Estate close down, is more hard. Right now I gone into cash crops, doing cabbage, lettuce and pak-choy. You get earnings but is hard work, invest more time and energy,” he pointed out.
He called for Government subsidies to assist him in buying a pump and shade house.
Another farmer, Hesley Jacobs, has also abandoned his canes at La Retarite. He said he has shifted his focus to smaller cultivations of bananas, plantains and cassava, and noted that his nephew cultivates coconuts and oranges, among other crops.
While the farmers await the construction of the all-weather road, GuySuCo last week issued a notice of interest for persons to cultivate canes around the Uitvlugt Estate. However, one farmer indicated that he has no interest in cultivating any land on the West Coast of Demerara.
“I don’t want no land at Uitvlugt, I’m not going back into cane anymore. The shock which I get, I done with that (sugar),” farmer Caryll told this newspaper.