Georgetown: Following a meeting with farmers from Buxton less than two weeks ago, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha has fulfilled commitments made to residents.
During the meeting, residents complained bitterly about the need for critical drainage works to be carried out in several areas of the village.
To date, 80% of the works have been completed, with the outstanding works scheduled to commence within the next few days.
Chairman of the Buxton/Friendship Grantees Corp Society, Leroy Hamer said that residents are already experiencing relief following the meeting.
“When the Minister was here with his team, we asked for the Friendship Middle Walk and the Friendship East and West Sidelines to be cleared. Today I can say that works on the Middle Walk and the East Sideline were completed. The works were done in a timely manner even with the current weather and because of that we have not experienced any flooding, even with the heavy rains that are falling. I want to thank the Minister for being a man of his word,” Mr. Hamer said.
Last month, Minister Mustapha also met with residents of Belladrum in Mahaica-Berbice, to listen to some of the issues affecting them. During the meeting, it was disclosed that among the issues raised, drainage and irrigation was of major concern to the residents. Villagers told the Minister that the lack of drainage works in the community over the years was beginning to pose a threat to the health of the young children in the village. Minister Mustapha instructed officials from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to put systems in place to have works carried out on a number of drains and canals in the area. In less than seven days, NDIA was able to deploy the requisite resources to commence critical works on the AD 60A main drainage canal, which is over 3.4 miles long.
To date, NDIA expended close to $2M to carry out the works in the village and its environs which will assist with drainage and irrigation of over 1000 acres of farm lands.
Belladrum NDC Chairman, Emile Wilson said that it was a delight to see that the meeting resulted in works being done in such a timely manner.
“I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised to see works were done. These kinds of things do not happen every day. In the past, Ministers never visited these communities, so the fact that a Minister came and actually fulfilled his promise, I must commend Minister Mustapha. We the residents of Belladrum now have some amount of confidence restored in officials holding public office, at least those in the Ministry of Agriculture,” Wilson said.
President of the Emanuel Foundation, Ivanho Gravesande, during the meeting indicated that there was need for some shadehouse materials to assist with the rehabilitation of a shadehouse project in the Golden Fleece area.
Minister Mustapha committed to assisting the group with materials and seedlings to resuscitate their shadehouse. NAREI recently acquired a quantity of shadehouse material under its ‘Smart Agriculture Initiative’ and, in the coming days, will hand over some materials and seedlings to the group to assist with the resuscitation of the community shadehouse. Furthermore, NAREI’s Regional Coordinator for Region 5 has been meeting with farmers and other member of the community offering technical advice on shadehouse best practices in the lead up to them receiving the promised materials and seedlings.
On Thursday last, after meeting with farmers from the village of Nabacalis on the East Coast of Demerara, Minister Mustapha also made good on a promise for the Ministry to commence a needs assessment to determine to magnitude of works necessary to bring relief to residents and farmers in the village.
Following the meeting, a team comprising of research and extension officers from the NAREI returned to the village and met with farmers to determine a plan of action as it relates to their cultivation practices and how the agency can assist. Additionally, an engineer from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) will be meeting with members of the Nabacalis Water Users Association later today to develop an assessment report of works to be carried out. Once the assessment is complete, NDIA will commence works to areas in need of critical and urgent drainage works.
Chairman of the Nabaclis Water Users Association, Kenrick Wickham said that he was pleased with the progress made thus far.
“We met with the Minister on Thursday and all the things he said he would do was done in a timely manner. He said the team from NAREI would come on Friday and they came on Friday. He said the engineer would come to do the needs assessment early in the week and the engineer confirmed that he will be coming this afternoon. I think hope has been restored in the system and persons in the village can now look forward to Government officials keeping their promises,” Mr. Wickham said.
While offering a comment on the progress of the projects carried out in these villages, Minister Mustapha said that his Ministry is committed to being responsive to the needs of the farmers.
“I will not go to meet with farmers to waste their time and my time. I intend to get things done. This Government is not in the business of making empty promises. We intend to work in the best interest of all Guyanese. Even though this was an emergency budget, critical works have to be done. There are a number of other projects that will be executed next year but there are a number of community development projects that need urgent attention. To date, I’ve made good on all the promises made to farmers and residents during my outreaches and this is the way I intend to work,” Minister Mustapha said.
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