The Government Information Agency (GINA) in a press statement said “a high-level team of officials led by Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud” visited the Region Three locations on Saturday to distribute the pipes and assess ongoing drainage and irrigation works.
By providing this form of support, GINA said, the Agriculture Ministry is ensuring that its Agriculture Diversification Programme (ADP) remains “unhindered”. Persaud said ADP, a massive drainage and irrigation rehabilitation programme, is being undertaken in the Canals Polder to help “realize the full potential and importance of the farming areas”.
The capacity of the current drainage and irrigation infrastructure, according to Persaud, is not sufficient for the success of ADP and the ministry will continue to make “the necessary interventions”. The objective of ADP, Persaud said, “is to raise income in the area through increasing efficiency of agriculture” production.
Some of the interventions which had been identified for Canals Polder 1 and 2 include the construction and rehabilitation of three main head regulators; 12 secondary head regulators; 2 secondary check structures; 58 secondary culverts; 1 main outfall; 2 primary check structures; 14 bridges; 800 meters of revetment; and 20.85 kilometres of roads at a cost of $390M.
Persaud, according to GINA, said 83 percent of the earthen rehabilitation works, control infrastructure and access roads have been completed.
He further urged farmers to maximize their use of the new infrastructure which is part of the Government’s drive to accommodate the sector’s expansion. Farmers, he said, should also do their part in ensuring that these structures are maintained and protected.
“The Canals Polder are very important for the diversification programme, because we know crops grown in the areas are being exported to America, Canada and further beyond,” Persaud said.
