The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) is advising rice farmers on the Essequibo coast to be judicious in their use of irrigation water over the next few weeks as the water level of the Tapacuma Conservancy has dropped significantly due to low rainfall during this rainy season.
According to a Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) press release, the NDIA has stated that despite their pumps working beyond the scheduled operating hours, the level of irrigation water in the main canal continues to be insufficient to adequately service all rice fields in both the front and backlands areas.
NDIA Region Two Engineer, Nanram Narine, said that low level of rainfall this rainy season has significantly affected the authority’s irrigation abilities.
“As a result, the water level in the Tapacuma Conservancy is very low. We are utilising the Dawa Pump Station to pump water from the Pomeroon River into the Tapacuma Conservancy. We have also extended the pumping hours and, should the need arise, we will have to extend those hours further,” Narine was quoted as saying.
While the authority is working towards ensuring that farmers in the front lands, who are the ones mainly affected, receive sufficient irrigation despite the cost, NDIA CEO, Fredrick Flatts, is urging farmers to be responsible with their water usage.
“We are cognizant of the additional cost this will incur to a system already constrained at this time of the year but, at the same time, we are aware that the livelihoods of many rice farmers would be affected if their fields are not properly irrigated and we are working to ensure that does not occur,” Flatts said.
The MoA release disclosed that this year, the NDIA has been awarded a budgetary allocation of $7.5 billion to be used to execute its capital and recurrent projects. Vulnerable areas such as Pomeroon, Friendship East Bank Demerara will receive $30 million each for rehabilitation work to reduce flooding in 2019.
In addition to developing new areas for agriculture purposes, the NDIA continues to plan and implement systems to assist the highly vulnerable and high risk areas of the country to adapt to the effects of climate change.
