Several East Coast communities are benefiting from drainage and irrigation (D&I) works that will lessen the impact of heavy rainfall on those communities as well put infrastructure in place to encourage farming. 

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud said current investments in the D&I system in the area include excavating drains and canals, repairing sluices, kokers and intake structures, upgrading access dams, desilting outfall canals and reactivating structures that were closed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Persaud told Victoria/Belfield, Buxton and Montrose residents said these works are intended to encourage farmers to re-cultivate lands by providing the basic infrastructure. It is also in response to residents’ requests to re-develop agriculture in their communities. These investments fall under the ongoing ‘Grow more’ initiative aimed at increasing food production for each household and community in order to make them self-sufficient……