Govt to install 40 additional pumps by year-end to address D&I woes – Pres Ali tells farmers

…says work progressing on WBD Hope-like canal

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Sunday embarked on a visit to the West Bank of Demerara (WBD) and the East Bank of Essequibo (EBE) during which he spoke with numerous farmers about the challenges facing them and committed to addressing these, including through massive infrastructural projects like the Hope Canal replica being built.

The Government has long highlighted how effective structures such as the Hope Canal are at drainage, as well as their irrigation potential as water reservoirs. During his visit to Canal Number Two, WBD, irrigation for farmlands dominated the concerns raised by farmers, who noted that lack of irrigation was causing their crops to die out.
In particular, the Chairman of the Canal Number Two Farmers Association acknowledged that while significant improvements in drainage and irrigation have been seen over the last three years, more remains to be done.
He pointed out that not only were farmers facing blowback from the El Niño phenomenon, but also poor water management during the dry season. In response, President Ali referenced the steps being taken by the Government to address the situation, including through the construction of a Hope Canal replica.
“The big project that will help this whole area is the Hope-like canal we’ll do at Beeline. So, what we want to do is dig one big canal out to the Demerara River. For drainage, but more importantly for storage. So, it’ll be a reservoir. On both sides of that, we’ll put two irrigation canals. The irrigation canals can be connected to this system here, so that would help to resolve a lot of the issues,” President Ali said.

“It’s a major project, before half of the year, we hope to start that project… we have the design completed now, right?” President Ali said in questioning the technical staff, before being told that a preliminary design has been completed and the detailed engineering work is now being done.
Mention was also made of the Boerasirie Conservancy in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), which connects to the Boerasirie River, Warimia Creek, Jumbi Creek and finally the South Durabana Creek and was designed to provide irrigation to approximately 36,000 hectares of land.
According to the Chairman, there is a challenge with water being discharged into the Demerara River, instead of being retained in a reservoir for the dry season. President Ali assured that the Hope-like Canal will also address that issue.

Parika
President Ali, accompanied by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, then moved on to Parika, where he was given a tour by farmers to see the various crops being grown. After his tour, the President acknowledged the challenges facing the farmers.

“In many areas, one of the major issues now is irrigation challenges. And we’ve been intervening. One of the problems is that the conservancy right now is almost at zero.
So, we have to pump water into the conservancy and then pump it to different irrigation channels,” the President told farmers gathered.
“In addition to that, there are some signature projects that we’ve started and will continue this year in the region, including the Hope-like canal and some irrigation channels, that would help to reduce flooding by 50/60 per cent and improve irrigation.”
According to President Ali, another measure the Government is pursuing is the procurement of mobile pumps. In fact, he was optimistic that by this year’s end, as many as 40 additional pumps could be deployed.
“Another thing we’re doing also is we’re investing in a lot of mobile pumps that would be deployed throughout the region. By the end of this year, we should have 40 additional pumps in the country, to be deployed in different areas. Outside of that, you know we’ve been investing in roads. We’ve been helping with machinery. Opening up the drainage,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Mustapha assured farmers that the Government continued to work on delivering its commitments to them. He too acknowledged the need for irrigation and noted that projects such as the Hope-like canal will be able to supply large amounts of irrigation water once completed.
“A lot of irrigation is needed. But we know a lot of commitments when he came here he made. And we’re working to deliver… the intake structure he committed? That structure is now operable. We’ve also committed to putting another structure at the distributary. That structure is in today’s paper, advertising for $89 million. So, that will complete the commitment that His Excellency would have made when he came here with all of those canals.
“There were some personal issues that farmers wanted to do personal plots. So, we’re looking to assist the farmers. The roads were one of the issues and you see the roads have been done now. So generally, in the agricultural community, we’re doing a number of these projects. As the President said, there’ve been four new pump stations in Region Three,” Mustapha said.
Meanwhile, the Government also committed to supplying local farmers in Parika, Region Three with much-needed support to safeguard their crops, through the distribution of shade house materials to the community.
Further, the President pledged that the Guyana Water Inc (GWI), the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) would return to the community to address the residents’ concerns comprehensively.
The presidential delegation also visited the ongoing works at the Canal Number One pump station. The pump station will have two mechanical pumps with a capacity of 150 cubic foot per second (cusecs) each, which will supplement the area’s current capacity of 200 cusecs.
This project, part of a more extensive drainage programme that aims to improve drainage and irrigation for farmers and residents, includes the construction of a large canal similar to what exists at Hope, East Coast Demerara and the dredging of the existing canals.
Pumps play a critical role in preventing floods and are especially important for rice cultivation. It had been reported late last year that even as rice farmers were preparing their lands for the next crop, they were facing challenges with replanting since several pumps that supply farmers with water were inoperable. (G3)