Some crops affected
As the rains continue, the water level in the Mahaica and Mahaicony creeks has slowly started to rise and a few residents have experienced losses to their crops although they said the situation is not serious.
Some residents of Mahaica Creek told Stabroek News that so far they have been able to pump the water out of their farms in order to save the crops but said if the rain continues they would definitely lose the battle.
While praying that the rain would “ease up,” they are bracing themselves in the event that they should face the kind of flooding they had experienced in the past where their farms were inundated for several weeks. The noted that the water has now started “to step on the land.”
So far the areas in Mahaica Creek that are affected are Big Baiboo and Grass Hook and at Handsome Tree on the right bank of the creek. Some residents who said they have empoldered their land or built it up higher said they are not affected.
Trevor Glahan of Big Baiboo told Stabroek News that he has already lost two acres of watermelons. He is also trying desperately to pump water out from another section of watermelon cultivation that is almost ready to reap.
He said it cost him a lot to invest in fuel and labour to pump the water out, knowing “full well” that he is “at the mercy of God and the rain. But me spend a lot of money to prepare the land and to get the seed so me just can’t leave it like that; me have to try to save it…”
Naresh Bhagwandeo, a rice and cash crop farmer of Big Baiboo told this newspaper that he too has started to pump water out of his crops. He said though that in the past his crops were more seriously affected and that this time it was saved because he had empoldered his land.
At Mahaicony Creek, a resident, Shan Kumar who traverses the creek almost daily to check on the situation said the water level is high but has not reached the land as yet.
He said residents have hardly invested in cash crop farming because of the flooding they suffered over the years. According to him they have started to look at other alternatives of earning a living like catching birds and fish and seeking employment with rice farmers and other business persons.
Talwantie Panday of Pine Ground who planted just a small garden said she saved everything because the excavator, belonging to the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ ADA) had dug a drain in front and at the back of her house and had filled up her land.
She said the canal was also dug and she and the other residents are grateful for the work that was done “because if dem din dig we woulda done flood already.”
A few rice farmers who have not been able to reap in time for the rainy season said they do not have access to transport their paddy because the MMA has had to cut a section of the dam as part of its maintenance programme.
In the Abary Creek the water has started to come on the land slightly and residents on the right bank said that although they have empoldered they have to pump out water to save their produce. They noted too that “it is not so bad like before.”
General Manager of MMA, Aubrey Charles had told Stabroek News that residents of the Mahaica and Mahaicony creeks were expected to have relief from flooding as the MMA had taken steps to drain the water from the “back to the front.”
He said that the Perth/Biaboo canal has been rehabilitated and linked to the primary drainage channel between Cottage and Zeeland. This would allow the water to flow into the Bellamy drain, which would in turn be discharged into the Atlantic.
According to him, eight primary drains leading to the Bellamy canal between the Mahaica and Mahai-cony creeks have been cleared.
Maintenance works have been undertaken “at the land south of the irrigation canal in the upper reaches of Mahaica and Mahaicony River going up to Biaboo/Wash Clothes,” he added. MMA has also rehabilitated the Industry canal that lies south of the public road.
He said the focus of the rehabilitation is on the drains and the canals south of the main irrigation canal and the Abary River where there were problems that caused flooding. Charles expected that the drainage would have been enhanced as there are no impediments.
