Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Frederick Flatts has denied the claims by veteran rice farmer Ganga ‘Bobby’ Persaud that Water Users Association (WUA) services have been discontinued in the Hague and Blankenburg communities.
The WUA comprises four communities – Hague, Blankenburg, Den Amstel and Fellowship – and would facilitate the servicing of the drainage and irrigation systems locally as opposed to having Central Government, directly through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) controlling it.
When contacted, Flatts told this newspaper that the NDIA, under the WUA, continues to do drainage and irrigation works in the communities and therefore the claims by Persaud were “very strange.”
He noted that they have been delivering services to the communities for the last eight years under one association and there were no plans to change the arrangement.
Persaud, a rice farmer of Hague, West Coast Demerara, who has been in the business for more than three decades, said he was told by the National Coordinator of the WUA that Den Amstel and Fellowship had requested the exclusion of Hague and Blankenburg.
Persaud explained that sometime before the WUA started, the communities of Den Amstel and Fellowship had applied to the World Bank for assistance in getting important infrastructural works completed but were not successful until a local representative did an investigation and feasibility study.
He said the local representative realised that Den Amstel and Fellowship did not have the acreage required to receive the assistance from the Bank and as a result advised that Blankenburg on the East and Hague on the west be included with the other two communities under one Water Users Association. “They got our support, the farmers’ support… and it was quite a number of us. They agreed we were going to merge and we would be one Association,” Persaud explained.
He said that in 1996, a team of six farmers were taken to India and Philippines to experience what was being implemented there as it relates to the WUA.
Not too long after they returned, the association was formed and it has been thriving over the years and assisting farmers in the area until recently.
The Association is set up in such a way that the farmers would pay it directly every year for its services, which includes monthly cleaning and clearing of drains.
“Instead of relying on a central system it became highly localised under the banner of the WUA. You didn’t have to call the NDIA to tell them that your trenches were blocked. You called the people who were directly responsible for the WUA and tell them the problem. When they introduced it, I said then and I am still saying, it is very convenient for the workers to continue planting and putting out a good crop,” Persaud explained.
He said that the Association has been working well over the years until the last crop that ended earlier this year, when the provision of services abruptly stopped.
“The National Coordinator informed us that Den Amstel and Fellowship are requesting that they be on their own and want to tell us that Hague and Blankenburg shouldn’t be on the project,” Persaud noted.
He said that for the last six months they have not been provided with their regular services, even after paying their fees, and while there were periods during the Association’s tenure when the waterways would not be cleaned monthly, there was never a time when services were withheld for such long time.
This, he said, will have adverse effects on farmers in the area, as it will result in poor drainage and irrigation infrastructure. “When the waterways are blocked, you can’t get proper drainage and the water from the rainfall would remain longer on the land. When you need the water on the crop and you can’t have it on time because the system is blocked will have an effect too. It will take longer for farmers to get water in their fields and rice is a seasonal thing. If you in the season on time, you can produce a good crop but if you are out of season it will put you in problem. Perhaps the rains will come back and catch you at harvesting time or insects will damage your crops badly,” Persaud added.
He said when that happens, the farmers will be put under immense pressure since they spend a lot of money to ensure that their crops are sustained and harvested in a timely and safe manner.
This, he emphasised, calls for proper irrigation and drainage system as well as a maintenance schedule. “The Water Users Association is not in full effect for us anymore. If they want to be alone, we have no problem but we must work out something for us to be under an Association. We can’t got to the Ministry of Agriculture or NDIA and tell them we want our drainage cleaned,” he said, while noting that he hopes relevant action will be taken to restore normalcy.
