Farmers of De Buff Village and Canal Number Two Polder North Section, West Bank Demerara, who are struggling to cope with the loss of millions of dollars in crops and livestock after more than 8 days of heavy rain and flooding, blame the authorities for poor drainage maintenance.
When Stabroek News visited the area, the farmers laid the blame squarely at the feet of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and Regional Chairman Julius Faerber as it relates to the maintenance of the canals and drains in the area.
They said Faerber knew about the flooding in the area but paid no heed; they also added that he informed them that the MOA knew about it.
National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Head Lionel Wordsworth said yesterday the NDIA was aware of the flooding in the area and had since made interventions to have the land drained quickly.
Efforts to get a comment from Faerber proved futile since his secretary said he was in Georgetown at a meeting.
It was reported that the pump at the Stanleytown Pump Station was not operable to assist in draining the water from the farmlands and canals, which in some parts are weed infested.
When Stabroek News visited the Pump Station the gate was padlocked and the pump was not working despite farmlands still being inundated, however there were some workers cleaning the canals.
The farmers are now left to pick up the pieces and start their cultivation again since they have no other option. They are demanding that the relevant authorities take immediate action and compensate them fully for their losses.
Damaged crops and dead livestock cost the farmers millions and now they are facing the brunt of what they describe as “sheer negligence” on the part of the relevant authorities. Damaged crops include pumpkin, cassava, cherries, pineapples, cashew, pak-choy, eddoes, tomatoes, mustard and others.
The farmers would usually sell their produce in wholesale or retail quantities to vendors in Georgetown and persons around the neighbourhood.
Seventy-one-year-old pensioner Lallbachan John said he and his wife live alone and they cannot afford to live on their pensions, so he took up cattle rearing and farming to make ends meet.
‘Me lost one acre banana. …All me citrus fruit deh under water. Me lost passion fruit, cassava and all thing,” the man said sadly.
John said that because of the water that flooded his entire yard he had to take his cattle to a ‘reef’ some 550 rods away from his yard to keep them safe.
“Old man like me got to go 550 rods to go look after me cow,” he complained.
He also added that the flooding was caused due to the negligence of the relevant authorities who could have avoided it by cleaning the trench a couple days earlier.
“Since March they didn’t pay the contractor so the man says he can’t work here until he gets paid,” was the comment of angry Vinod Jaghdir. He had over 2,500 tomato plants and 500 roots of bitter gourd (Carilla), which had just started to produce and almost all of them are now damaged. He estimates his losses to be well over $4 million, and lamented that he has a mortgage to pay and his farm was his main source of income and now his crop is over he has to look elsewhere to pay his mortgage.
When asked about payments not being made to the contractor, Wordsworth said that the ministry pays for work that is satisfactorily completed and once the work is satisfactorily completed payments will be made.
The farmers told Stabroek News that they have been flooded for about eight days and nothing was done about it until yesterday when contractor Deodat Deokinandan started to clean the canal.
Shocked to even estimate his losses, one farmer said all his plants have withered up and officials from the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) went to them and took their names and a list of their losses but gave them no word as to what will happen.
“Dem man doing all kind of stupidness and we got we duck and dem things dying out. Plus we invest nuff money and I have 3 acres of pine and over $20 million in losses,” Ramroop Suresh Persaud related.
He added that he took a loan from the bank to start his farming and goes into the interior to work to back up his payments to the bank. He said the flood had served him a major setback.
Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Ali Baksh, had announced that he would visit the area yesterday, but later called it off. Efforts to contact him for a comment and the reason for the change in plans proved futile.
