Cattle being sold out
As the rain continues the Abary Creek has been flooded and residents have suffered losses to crops and livestock and some are falling sick.
A section of the flooded Abary Creek
The residents also told Stabroek News (SN) that while vets have been making checks in the creek they do not have drugs to treat their sick animals and they learnt that “government has not release any as yet. The cows’ skin bursting and we don’t know what disease they have and we have to mingle with them.”
The toilets are also overflowing and residents said they have to dwell in the same water. Some of the residents have tried to move their animals to higher ground and have raised their pens but the water has started to get in.
Clifton Bassoo’s cattle being taken out of the Abary Creek yesterday to be sold
A resident from the upper reaches of the creek said there is no dry spot there and he “don’t know which is creek and which is land right now.”
Rice farmers said their crops are under water and while they have already started to lose large portions they are desperately pumping water out in an effort to save the rest.
Residents had stopped investing in cash crop farming since the area started to be affected by severe flooding since 2005 and are cultivating small kitchen gardens instead which already “duck out.”
Most of the residents are employed as labourers but said “we are hardly getting work and whatever little savings we have would finish.”
Further, the residents said “we get flood two times a year and we know that we can’t get away from that because the water always rise in the creek when the rain fall. But we would get relief if the authorities continue cleaning from the sea-front to come into the creek and break off some of the turns from the outfall.”
Residents had made a request for the mouth of the Abary River to be cleared and government had funded the job earlier this year. The work was overseen by the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary/Agricultural-Development-Authority (MMA/ADA).
A few housewives told this newspaper that they had asked the president for a boat to take the children to school. “We don’t know how they would make out to go to school from Monday. How long we would keep them home? They need a boat to take them because the dam is really bad. We want the president to come back in here,” the women said.
Poultry farmer, Mahase Prahalad, said his pen with 150 ducks and 100 fowls which he depends on for a living is under several inches of water and they hardly have any dry place to stay.
His 10 head of cattle are in the water and one of them valued $70,000 has died. It appeared as though it had been bitten by a snake. He said residents need medicine for snake bites because the reptiles are lurking in the water.
He had also caught a caiman that was attacking his ducks and fowls. His kitchen garden which consisted of ochro, boulanger and peppers is also under water.
Prahalad said his 13-year-old son has to be in the water with him to help move his cows to higher grounds while he sent his 11-year-old daughter to stay with relatives on the road.
He said “black water running in the creek and we don’t know if it was coming from Mahaicony Creek or the savannah.”
When SN visited the area yesterday a cattle farmer, Clifton Bassoo was bringing his 95 head of cattle out “on the road to sell because I can’t find any grass for them and eventually they would die.”
The man charged that the flood is a man-made disaster because “with rainfall alone this place is ok. Even when we get two weeks of non-stop rainfall and we never get this flood. They [government officials] are opening the water at Maduni and not informing people.”
Iqbal Kassim said over 200 roots of cherries and his boulanger and bora plants are under water “and the leaves start to coil up and drop off.” He has 15 head of cattle and they are on the right bank of the Abary Creek. The father of three ages one, four and five, lives on the left bank and the only dry spot was under his house which he had spent a lot of money to empolder.
His father, Mohamed Kassim, 60, who resides on the right bank of the creek said he had over 200 head of cattle and eight of his calves, worth over $1M have already died. He sells milk for a living but at the moment he cannot get to milk his cows.
The man said the water is right up to his door and he is thinking of packing up and leaving the area because “one position we in all the time; we really punishing.”
Dilip Gildharry a father of six children whose ages range from five months to 12 years old including one who is physically challenged said out of his 15 sheep seven have already died. His cows are also in the water while his boulanger, bora and ochro “done duck out.”
He said he tries to keep the children upstairs but the bigger ones “have to help him to cut grass for the animals. He knows the children can get sick and said “the cow and sheep we can buy back but we can’t buy back the people if they die.”
Rice farmer, Mohabir Gildharry told this newspaper that he was trying desperately to pump water to save his 60 acres of rice “but ah don’t think I can save it anymore because instead of the water draining through the canal it is coming in.”
The man owned 60 cows but said 15 have gotten cramps and died while most of his fowl have drowned. Like other residents, he is asking for “flood relief.”
Surujpaul “Ricta” Rampersaud said yesterday that six of his cows have died and one of his horses is missing and he is afraid that it has died too. He said his goats are on higher grounds but the water is reaching that spot as well.
He said “the flood come but nobody nah come in here to give we any [medical] assistance and we getting sick.” His wife, Sunita Ramoo said that she has had to move her stove and utensils to her upper flat because the water is in her kitchen downstairs.
Boy, a sympathise with all alyuh and I can understand what yu going thru. By rights the govt and regional administrations should compensate all farmers for their losses because they have failed to provide you with the level of service and security you are entitled to. I am still wondering if Pradoville under water? Perhaps SN could enlighten us on that. The big question now is, is ya all going put these people back in power again come next elections after they continue to fail ya’all so miserably? If so is the case then ya’all deserve all you get, so tek it without complaining because once yu put an incompetent govt in office da is wa will continue to happen. Then I read Robert Persaud wasting more taxpayers money flying over the creek to see the damage. Is he flying over go mek the water recede or being pro-active before these events occur? Next time yu see the Minister ask he if he place flood.
kudos to Govt. on the Berbice river bridge.
Yes man, kudos and more kudos! A new bridge that connects one flooded area to another. People and cattle might soon have to live on this bridge.
The Berbice river bridge, is doing nothing to relieve the floodings or those who are suffering as a result of government’s neglect and mismanagement.
This is a very sad way for the people in these areas to start 2009 the question is who is to be blamed ? sometimes it looks like there is too much people who have no knowledge of the position they are in charge of and the end results is the people suffer ,But the words of a song i rember as a kid is <Have A little Faith In The One You Love. remember the promise of good governance it is working for some but not all i hope that it works for all in 2009
my heart goes out to these people as i know what is it to depend on this for their living well i think the President along with a medical and veterniary team should be there already to assist these people for Agriculture is the backbone of our country and to suffer this kind of loss in this time when the world food and economic have a crisis.
Brazil has more land under cultivation that we probably have as an entire country. They discovered that for every ton of grain produced by the plow, 10 tons per hectare of topsoil is washed into the drains and canals annually.
This problem needs a holistic approach, mind, attitudes, change of farming methods. Forget about plastics and styrofam for now, that is not the major problem here. The major problem is plow cultivation.
All they need to do to get an idea of what it takes to even address this problem is to average how much land is now under plow cultivation, multiply that by 10 tons average per hectare,per annum and them divide that by the amount of silt a Himac can remove per year.
They also need to keep in mind that dumping this silt at the side of the canals, will cause it to be washed right back in.
Forget about grow more food and go invest campaigns. Unless this problem is addressed effectively, the only slogan we will be left with is ” Cannot grow any food any more”
The adminstration need to get their hands on copies of the book “One grain revolution”, written by a Japenese Horticulturalist, many years ago. He has now since retired, but he has demonstrated time and time again all over the world, that it is possible to grow an increased yield of rice without the plow, without rooting out the vegetation, no fertilizers and pesticides.
He said that it will take some time to reinvigorate, land that has been used in conventional cultivation. Farmers may even notice a drop in yield of about 5% to 10%, but in time the land will heal and begin to produce more that cultivated land.
We can only push, twist and bend nature so far,before nature fights back. The slogan “Produce or perish” is no longer applicable. the new slogan needs to be “Heal and care the land” Take from mother nature only the thinks we need and nothing more, or we will all perish.
History is littered with evidence of great civilisations right here in the Americas that seems to have suddenly crumbled and disappeared. There are many theories as to why this happened. Some archeologists, surmised it was because their food source ran out.
If this situation continues in Guyana, their food source will run out, due to complete destruction faster than it can be replaced.
Joe.
Uncle Joe, it sounds like you know wa you talkin about. Your numerous comments on this flood ting sounds more like solutions to me but I’m not sure how much bloggers can utilize this info to help we country. You ever thought of sharing your expertise with the GY Gov’t or even going back to aid them with the flood/drainage problem?
Oh! Happy new year!
Oops! I made a mistake with the name of the book I mentioned in my comment. It is the “One straw revolution” and can be purchased at amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/One-Straw-Revolution-Introduction-Natural-Farming/dp/0878572201
Joe.
Folks I found a free online copy of the book. It is beautiful reading, not only farmers, but every person who truly believes in the harmony of nature should read this book.
You can also save a copy of the ebook on your hard drive and email it to all you friends and relatives who farm in Guyana.
Enjoy
http://www.charityfocus.org/docs/onestraw.pdf
Joe.
Very good.
JangO, I once did try and sent an email to the office of the President, but never got a reply, then I stumbled on the SN blog site and has been blogging ever since.
My life is somewhat comfortable over here, Kids are all grown, I have been around, seen a couple of places, done a couple of things. Nothing excites me much anymore, but I am still a working stiff overhere.
If I could I would indeed like to go back and help the people because of my philosophy, that if we live life,only to our own benefit and never try to help our fellow man, then our life has been lived in vain.
Joe.
Not there yet but I think I know the point of where you have reached in life.
As for the flood, the Mother Land is desperately in need of knowledgeable people and fresh ideas to better manage the situation. I only hope that the people in charge don’t play “know it alls” and shut the door to others who have the potential to help.
“We get flood two times a year and we know that we can’t get away from that because the water always rise in the creek when the rain falls”
This is devastation and totally unacceptable for these poor farmers and the people of the coast to be suffering like this year out,year in.As the farmer said, that whenever it rains heavily the water in the creek rises, therefore, he has identified one of the main reasons.
May I suggest that government hold a National Inquiry into this severe flooding, after which they can invite the Dutch one of the masters of engineering to visit, survey and to construct/Reconstruct an effective drainage system of dykes,dams,kokers etc after which the government word of the day must be “MAINTENANCE” to prevent these poor people from experiencing this massive devastation every year.
Too often, we fool the people by telling them that the main reasons for their flooding is because Guyana is below sea level.
Neil You think they will do that get the Dutch in the country. If you go to the Guyana Internet you will find declassified information regarding Burhnam. how his top priority was always the sea defence, and keeping the the coastal land from flooding.the PPP never took care of the flooding
remember he had the national service where they kept the drains clean. the PPP cut off their nose to spoil their face. now the citizens are suffering They should also stop filling in the trenches part is nature the other is man made
Happy new yearto all of you
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL GUYANESE AT HOME AND ABROAD>
YOU PEOPLE HAVE TO GET IT IN YOUR HEAD, no govt. or protection can stop this yearly disaster from happening, the weather patterns are changing, the sea levels are rising and the only solution to this is to abandon the coast.
While it’s a fact, that the weather patterns are changing,I wish to ask you the following. Perhaps you can enlighten me.
(1)Was there ever a National inquiry into these floods since they started in 2005?
(2)What were the findings of the commission?
(3)Did an international team of engineers visit Guyana after the inquiry? What were their findings and recommendations?
(4)If not,What studies have you conducted into this flooding and what were the basis for recommendations.
Guyana depends heavily on the cultivation of rice and sugar for foreign exchange,should they abandon the cost where will they cultivate these crops?
Look the hell those people going thru. Just another reminder why they voted PPP. For punishment.
they didnt vote for de pnc and were punishing more…maybe dats y u run an leff guyana to where u have no punsihment..y dont u tank yuh lucky stars yuh live whe u live where no one punish….
Why do you assume they voted PPP?.
ppp,(punish poor people)they must go, all of them, sick to my stomach to even hear about pnc,ppp put cn sharma in power, just to make all of them dissapear, happy new year to u evileyes, am in ny spending xmas and the newyear with my relatives, miss canada.
dont styfil your conscience gtbeat, they surely didnt vote for pnc.
These residents are so foolish that when the water recedes they will continue planting and growing live stocks there…they wouldn’t learn like the man who built his house on the sand!!
It’s not that e z for them to do.You must be on dry land that’s y u can say da.Some of these people are doing de only thing they know, that is farming, all they are asking for is for the Gov the keep the drains clean,and to keep the land from flooding. My friend please have a heart,they are not asking for alot.
ITS SAD BUT I PROMISE YOU THESE ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO WILL VOTE THE GOVT. BACK IN COME NEXT ELECTIONS
nope they will not….Mark Simon will be voted in as prezz of the republic of guyana….
what about those people who never voted to put your party in powa fuh 28 years of long hard suffering????? wut say yuh????
Who would suggest they vote for?.
nah, evileyes for president, with a name like that who will vote for you evil, run…..
true mark that is because of their lack of knowledge.
What does the government has to do with the weather/flood? Wasn’t there flood in Guyana when PNC was in office? From what I remember back then, Guyana was all Mud. Do you really think Guyana have enough money to fix every issue its facing. Guyana is in a path of development and will take decades before everything is fix.
You people are ridiculous. Guyana will always have flood. It’ll need plenty of $ to fix this issue. PNC would’ve done worst!
GUYANA IS IN FACT A LAND OF MANY WATERS
Latchman Kissoon
No man! You lying. How you Know? Fu truth? I don’t believe you.
They have forgotten that!!! Move on to higher ground already! I know it’s easy for me to say as an armchair commentator, but and however, your lives depend on it. Start making tracks!