President announces billions in assistance for flood-affected citizens

…households, farmers to benefit from over $7B
…estimated $23B loss in production

Following an extensive countrywide assessment, President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced several billion dollars in relief assistance for citizens and farmers who were affected by the recent floods that devastated communities in all 10 regions of Guyana.

He made this announcement during a live Address to the Nation on Saturday, where he outlined the assistance that would be given to various categories of households and farmers affected by the floods.

According to Ali, some 52,000 households were affected by the torrential rains and flooding that beset Guyana earlier this year. Back in June, President Ali had declared it a national disaster. The combined assistance to households including homesteads and those with kitchen gardens, will be in excess of $3.5 billion.
“Having regards for the massive disruption in the economy and household level, particularly the agriculture sector, the Government committed to direct transfers to households and farmers to allow them in the first instance, to return to some level of normalcy in their homes whilst supporting the agriculture sector to return to productive capacity so as to mitigate against potential food shortages whilst at the same time supporting the farming community.”
He said that from the data collected, approximately 52,000 households were affected in categories of homestead farmers, kitchen garden, and household exclusive of farms/gardens. In these categories, the Head of State noted, farmers within the context of a homestead would receive $100,000 each, those with kitchen gardens will receive $50,000 each and households excluding homestead and kitchen garden will receive 50,000 each.
The President explained that the combined assistance to homestead farmers, kitchen gardens and households for these categories will be in excess of $3.5 billion. He acknowledged that whilst some large-scale farmers were severely affected, especially in the rice and poultry sectors, the ceiling of assistance will not exceed $10 million for individual farmers.

Rice
With regards to the rice sector, where 50,000 acres of farmlands and 2000 farmers were directly affected, Ali noted that these farmers suffered heavy losses. He went on to detail the assistance they would get.
“For rice that was ready to harvest but lost in the floods, $80,000 per acre would be given to those farmers. For rice sowed and lost in the autumn crop, these farmers will receive $65,000 per acre.
“For land that was completely prepared but was not sowed, $45,000 per acre would be given to these farmers. In addition, to this support, 60,000 bags of seed paddy would be made available. The combined assistance in these four categories would be in excess of $3.2 billion.”
When it comes to the livestock industry, he said assistance will be given from subsistence to large scale farmers. President Ali explained that more than 2000 farmers were affected by the floods and as such, will benefit from over $600 million in direct transfers. This is outside of the technical assistance the Government and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) will be providing.
In the livestock industry, assistance will be broken down into four categories mainly subsistence farmers, small farmers, medium farmers, and large-scale farmers and he stated that in these four categories more than 2000 farmers were affected.
“In addition to these direct transfers, the Agriculture Ministry and GLDA will be assisting through genetic improvements, drainage and irrigation works, technical support, and extension services to the approximate value of $500 million,” he said.

Planning for the future
The scale of destruction which the President noted had been meted out to the various sectors means that much infrastructural work will have to be done. For instance, President Ali noted that the agriculture sector suffered the greatest loss with 92,000 acres of farms and farmlands completed affected.
When it comes to the sugar industry and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), this was also significantly affected with estimated losses in the fields of over $1.5 billion. It is a similar story with the mining sector.
According to Ali, over 50 per cent of mining operations were affected, as mining communities were cut off as a result of infrastructural damage. An initial assessment estimates rehabilitation work in excess of $1 billion would be required for the mining community.
“Initial estimate points to approximately $23 billion or more in loss of production. Damage to the Forestry Sector, loss of production and damage to equipment is estimate at an excess of $8 billion,” he said, adding that a full socio-economic impact assessment is being examined by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN/ECLAC).
According to Ali, ongoing infrastructural works will continue to rebuild damns, farm-to-market access roads, hinterland roads, mining roads, community roads, drainage systems, and other infrastructure that were destroyed or deteriorated during the floods. Work will also continue on a national drainage plan for the future.
“I am aware that this assistance will go a long way in bringing relief. However, it can never compensate for the emotional and social loss, which I saw and experienced first-hand. I assure you this Government will continue to work on an aggressive national drainage plan in the context of climate change so as to mitigate further climate events and disasters,” he said.
This financial assistance comes from $10 billion in supplementary funding that the Government secured from the National Assembly last month.
Between May and June this year, heavy rains resulted in widespread flooding across the country, affecting thousands of households. The devastation includes submerged buildings and vehicles with adverse effects on crops, livestock and health.
It has been noted that the rainfall experienced in May alone was recorded as the second highest level of rainfall across the country in the last 40 years. All 10 administrative regions in Guyana experienced varied levels of flooding, prompting Government to roll out immediate responses such as evacuation of those most at risk and flood assistance.