No water for animals, cash crops drying up as El Niño grips West Berbice
Desmond Jacobs pointing to the canal that has dried up
The impact of the El Niño phenomenon is making life tough for some West Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) farmers.
Canals have dried up leaving cattle, sheep and goats without water as they are forced to eat dry grass.
Fruit and cash crop farmers are no better off.
The situation at a pasture at Leitchfield, which is home to hundreds of cattle and small ruminants, is one example of how animals are being affected.
Eon Archibald, who has 15 head of cattle, told Guyana Times that he has to take the animals to a canal, which is also drying up to get water.
He said he was eagerly looking forward to rice farmers completing harvesting of their rice, explaining that the animals would be able to graze in the rice fields for a brief while.
Seventy-nine-year-old Herman Nicholson, who has about 120 head of sheep, told this newspaper that he has to take the animals where water and grass are available.
This, he pointed out, poses other problems as drivers would often times hit some of them as they are on the road shoulder eating grass.
“They driving with too much speed. Corentyne drivers would hit them and carry them away. That is another problem that we get. If you go on the road in the afternoon, you would see me looking after the sheep,” he related.
“Because they can’t graze here and there is no water here, so that is why they does go out to the road where they can get water.”
Desmond Jacobs, a cash crop and fruit farmer, is unsure of the future.
“It tight; I can’t water any of these plants, I would normally water them two times a day, but I had to start watering them every other day, but yesterday (Tuesday) was the last bit of water from the canal and just give them a trough of water just to revive them, but I don’t know what will happen now,” he said.
“We would normally pump water from the canal, but right now there is no water in the canal,” the cash crop farmer related.
The current El Niño conditions have been forecast to last between nine to 12 months.
Currently, Guyana is observing Agriculture Month under the theme “Accelerating Vision 25 by 2025: Investing in Agri-Business and Food Security”. (G4)
