By Lakhram Bhagirat
The loss of a parent, particularly the sole breadwinner for the family, is a big blow and it often means the other has to step up, take the mantle and carry the family forward which is exactly what Indera Thakurdin did when her husband, Calvin, died over two years ago.
Indera is the mother of two children and lives in Jacklow, Pomeroon. Her husband died suddenly in January of 2016 leaving her to care for their two children. Both of Indera’s children would have performed outstandingly at their examinations. Her eldest child was 2013’s top Hinterland student at CSEC. She initially gained a place at Queens College when she wrote the NSGA but because of distance attended the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary where she secured 13 grade ones and two grade twos.
Just last year, Indera’s son secured a place at the St Joseph’s High School but like his sister, he is currently attending the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary. Indera explained that while every parent wishes to have their children attend the best schools sometimes it is not possible because of circumstances.
Touching on her own childhood, Indera explains that the Pomeroon is the only home she knew and wants it to remain that way because of the serenity and overall quietness of the place. Everyone in the Pomeroon is involved in some part of the agriculture sector whether it is fishing, cash crop or permanent crop so it is like the right of passage that she married a farmer.
The couple cultivated “permanent crops” like avocados, plantain and citrus but would ever so often venture into cash crop
planting pumpkin and various ground provisions. After her husband’s death, Indera had to step up, pick up from where he left off and that is exactly what she did. She immediately took charge of their farm and began cultivating a manageable plot.
“My farm is five acres cultivated. As a woman, I try to maintain a small farm. My husband died in January 2016 and from since then I took over from where he left off. This farm here is the only income I have to support my son who is in school. My daughter just completed her first degree in Economics at UG and she is now working too, but she is in Georgetown,” Indera said.
Being around farming all her life and even assisting her parents earlier, Indera said taking over the farm after Calvin’s demise was not too strenuous since she used her knowledge to maximize yields and ensure the farm was well taken care of. Now she has some labourers working with her, but that does not mean she sits by and orders them around, rather she works with them “foot by foot”. This, she says, allows her to know the ins and outs of her crop so that she can share that knowledge with other
women if they choose to get into the sector.
But like every sector, there are challenges faced by the farmers in the Pomeroon and it often results in them losing millions of dollars in produce and crops. One of the pressing issue is that of the “dry limb disease” that affects citrus plants. Indera explains that the officers at the National Agricultural Research Extension Institute (NAREI) are aware of the disease and samples were taken to be tested but no response as yet.
“We have dry limb disease on the oranges and NAREI people come in and they check it and they took samples and they haven’t gotten anything as yet. This going on for years and it wipe out more of the oranges. There isn’t no treatment and what you have to do is get the workers to chop the dry part out and hope the tree don’t die,” she said.
Additionally, market for the produce is something that troubles her. But for Indera it is not such a big issue since she is a wholesaler.
Her advice to any woman desirous of entering the sector is for them to be prepared to work hard and get dirty. She notes that drive is the key to succeeding and the drive to provide for her family has been her driving force all the while. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
