Dear Editor,
The government does not need to craft an action plan to combat El Niño in the future; there was a recommended plan at the Ministry of Agriculture since the El Niño of 1998. El Nino expert, Anatoly Samoilenko, suggested ways to combat the then crisis and made recommendations relating to water for agricultural and domestic purposes, but no one has ever paid attention to his recommendations.
Today, we are paying the price for government’s lackadaisical attitude for not acting on those recommendations. We in Guyana are blessed with a land of many waters, but we lack the foresight to harness the water during the rainy season; we have an abundance of fresh water in the lakes and reservoirs, but what usually happens is that water is released into the Atlantic ocean. The government should now find ways to store that water by returning it to a reservoir, and in times like these the water can be distributed to the farming and housing areas.
Strategies must include significant improvement in water use efficiency in agriculture and for domestic purposes, which now accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the country’s water consumption. If the government can implement a plan to reduce water wastage for both agriculture and domestic use by 40 per cent, the farmers will be facing fewer risks when they plant their crops.
Mr Samoilenko identified areas where help could be sought, such as for funds to purchase items like pumps to provide relief to farmers who have no access to water to irrigate their rice fields. The government at this time should move to provide farmers with assistance for the next crop. These include seeds for cash crop and ground provision farmers along with cash to go back to their lands. The government must work in collaboration with donor countries and agencies such as the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the World Bank, the IDB, and Unicef in order to receive assistance to combat the effects of the next El Niño weather phenomenon.
The rice industry will need about 75,000 bags of seed paddy; funding for the procurement of this seed can be provided by the government; however, these funds can be reimbursed from funds to be provided by the IDB. This bank could also provide assistance for the rehabilitation of the conservancies affected by El Niño. Guyana has had about three long dry-spell weather conditions or El Niño phenomena in the past, where crops and animals were lost and people’s lives were disrupted.
The long drought will reduce the country’s gross domestic product, even though it was not extensive. The current team which was set up by the government to manage El Niño as part of an emergency and disaster relief process will be effective only in the short term, but not over long term. As the mechanization of agriculture continues, new proactive policies are essential which will diversify production risks and will consider new and more effective El Niño strategies.
Over the long term Guyana will also need to give more emphasis to plant breeding and genetic modifications to develop varieties of crops that are drought-resistant and salt tolerant. Climate change means less or more rains, and we can no longer rely on the signs we took for granted in the past. We need more major schemes like Mahaica/ Mahaicony/Abary, Tapakuma and Black Bush. However, we must not think only of large, expansive projects. Government must identify the areas which require small schemes which can be undertaken by the central government.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
