It a waste of time for the Minister of Agriculture to speak about irrigation in the MMA/ADA project. MMA/ADA knows fully well that over 60 per cent of the farmers sub-let their lands in the project to rich rice farmers in West Coast Berbice, at rates ranging from $5,000 to $12,000 per acre. This is the origin of the irrigation problem in West Coast Berbice.
Concerning the El Nino and the irrigation problem facing farmers, it was advertised in the daily newspapers that the Minister and a team would hold a meeting on the East Coast of Demerara, and the Bush Lot school, West Coast Berbice, on December 18, 2009 at 10hrs. I am sorry that he and Mr Seeraj did not turn up. Only myself, about 10 rice farmers and around 20 cash crop farmers turned up, along with Mr Aubrey Charles, the General Manager of MMA/ADA, and Region 5 Chairman, Mr Hari Narine Baldeo, and the two GRPA field representatives – and this was a meeting well advertised in the papers.
The Minister of Agriculture and Mr Seeraj should have gone to MMA/ADA to see people fighting for vouchers for fetililizers. It would be better if the President gave MMA/ADA the money instead to help clear the hundreds of canals.
Yours faithfully,
Bramdeow Singh
