El Nino-like conditions prevailing

-Minister meets farmers
El Nino-like conditions are affecting many areas across the country and the Ministry of Agriculture has been reaching out to affected farmers, a statement from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.

Robert Persaud
Robert Persaud

In a meeting with Region Five farmers, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud stated that his Ministry, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), and the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary/Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) are all aware of the effects farmers are experiencing as a result of the lack of adequate supplies of fresh water – a direct result of the long, dry spell experienced in recent months. He said that interventions would be made.

El Nino, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), results from unusually warm current flows off the western coast of South America. Its appearance after Christmas led sailors in Peru to christen it El Nino, the Christ Child in Spanish.

During the March 1997/March 1998 El Nino in Guyana, there was a grave water shortage in all the country’s administrative regions, brush fires and a surge in water-borne diseases. Sea water had also begun to flow upstream in many of the country’s rivers. Agricultural production that year dropped. In other parts of South America El Nino triggered severe floods.

According to the WHO report on El Nino and its health impact, the El Nino events in 1982 -83 and 1997-98, which was the most recent, were the biggest this century. El Nino events occur irregularly. They usually last from 12 to 18 months.  The El Nino event begins with the weakening of the prevailing winds in the Pacific and a shift in rainfall patterns. The events are associated with extreme weather (floods and drought) in countries surrounding the Pacific and much further afield. Prolonged dry periods may occur in South East Asia, Southern Africa and Northern Australia and heavy rainfall, sometimes with flooding, in Peru and Ecuador.

During a typical El Nino, the Asian monsoon season usually weakens and is pushed towards the equator, often bringing summer drought to North West and central regions of India and heavy rainfall in the north east.