A sea defence breach at Profitt, West Coast Berbice, coupled with the high tide on Thursday and yesterday resulted in saltwater affecting crops and livestock and farmers counting their losses.
Farmers planting rice, vegetables, watermelon and other crops along the embankment woke up yesterday morning to see their farms under water.
Livestock farmers are also distressed that the saltwater has gotten into the waterways, where they source water for their animals.
One man lamented that he could not give the animals the saltwater to drink and that yesterday afternoon he had to fetch water from another area for them.
He said too that the saltwater was causing the grass to die and that “feed would become a problem… The dams that they [animals] have to use were covered with water.”
He said he was making arrangements to move his sheep and goats to another location until the saltwater is cleared out.
Some of the farmers formed a delegation and visited regional chairman, Bindrabhan Bisnauth and related their plight.
They told this newspaper that a contractor was undertaking sea defence work and that this was not the first time that the area was breached.
About three weeks ago, they said, the area was affected by flooding and they had suffered losses. They pointed out that the exact spot was breached again and that the contractor should have done a proper job fixing it instead of allowing the problem to recur.
When Stabroek News visited the sea defence yesterday morning, Bisnauth was there assessing the situation. He said the breach was caused by the high tide that resulted in overtopping and flooding in the cultivation and residential areas.
He noted that water also got into the rice crop which is in an advanced stage and some farmers may suffer minor losses. He said he advised them to release the saltwater immediately.
Bisnauth said too that he spoke to Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn who instructed that two excavators be deployed to conduct emergency works to seal the breach.
So far, he said the contractor has finished 300 metres of the rip-rap sea defence work and should complete the remaining 200 metres in two weeks.
