Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy said that the floods are over, but the work for his ministry has now begun. According to Dr Ramsammy, plans are being put in place to clear several major drains and canals.
The agriculture minister told Guyana Times International in an interview last Friday that this is being done in order to prepare for any future occurrences of unusual heavy downpours. Dr Ramsammy explained that the situation is now under control and things are now getting cleaned up.
“I am happy to report that the status of the conservancy is not only at a safe level, but it’s at a level now that creates space in case there is prolonged rainfall in such a way that a heavy downpour will not cause us to open Maduni right away. If there is prolonged rainfall over many days, then we may not be able to prevent that.”
The Maduni relief canal was opened to channel water out of the most affected areas. This included the Mahaica/ Mahaicony/Abary areas in the upper East Coast Demerara.
The agriculture minister noted that from reports earlier Monday morning, the water level was at 58.15GD, which is not very far from the safety level of 58.5GD. He explained that water will continue to be released through the Demerara outlets, but will have to be monitored before it is too low. At some point, Dr Ramsammy will have to give instructions to workers to close the Demerara outlets. This is to ensure that enough water remains in all of the main canals, in preparation for the upcoming dry season.
“The reading, in fact, at the Demerara outlet at Land of Canaan is now below 56GD and the reading at Lama is below 58. So, we have managed to remain at a safe level so far and in fact, it has reached the level where we have to consider whether we need to preserve these levels and prepare for the dry season,” Dr Ramsammy stated.
The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), being the unit responsible for maintaining most draining systems, will become more active in the execution of its duties, while monitoring all other units.
Farmers in the rice, livestock and cash crop areas have been affected. This number is however small, with just minimum damage reported so far. The most affected area is cash crops.
Dr Ramsammy said farmers deserve to be credited for their work during the flood season. He explained that many of them contributed towards getting the water at a very minimum level.
The ministry is in the process of distributing planting materials to farmers, starting with the most severely affected areas. Several staffers of the Agriculture Ministry are currently in areas across the country assessing the damage incurred by farmers during the recent floods. They were provided with some materials to recommence farming.
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