Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha on Wednesday said that all four pumps currently at the Dawa Pump station, Pomeroon-Supenaam Region Two are operational.
The minister and a high level delegation, were on hand to observe the amount of water being pumped at the station.
During a meeting with rice and cash crop farmers, Mustapha said that the four pumps are currently pumping water at 215,400 gallons per minute and that within the next 5-7 days’ farmers should expect an adequate supply of water. He said that the Ministry of Agriculture, through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority [NDIA], will also be pumping water from Good Hope. He said that with the intervention from Good Hope, 80-100 gallons per minute of water will be added to the system.
Mustapha disclosed that the ministry, a multi-stakeholder committee and rice farmers will coordinate the quantity of water to be released to various areas in the region. The committee will be working closely with the Water Users Association (WUA) to monitor the Drainage & Irrigation [D&I] system and engineers attached to the region were also tasked with daily visits to the Dawa pump station.
The minister assured both rice and cash crop farmers, who attended the meeting, that his ministry and major stakeholders are currently working to ensure water is supplied in a timely manner. The farmers, in response, said that they were satisfied firstly, that the minister visited, and secondly, that they are looking for prompt intervention with the caveat that water be released in the low lying areas first.
Mustapha was accompanied by Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Madanlall Ramraj, Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Lionel Wordsworth, Deputy General Manager – the Guyana Rice Development Board, Kuldip Ragnauth, General Manager, National Agricultural and Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) Jagnarine Singh, Head of the Guyana Livestock and Development Authority (GLDA), Dr. Dwight Waldron along with Regional Vice Chairman Humace Oodit and regional engineers.
