Christmas crops wiped out

JULIEN NEAVES

PRESIDENT of the Agricultural Society Dhano Sookoo, yesterday, said the recent spate of flooding had been one of the worst for farmers in 20 years and this Christmas season would feature low local produce and high prices.

Sookoo said in areas like Vega de Oropouche, Plum Mitan and Rio Claro 100 per cent of vegetable crops were lost. In Vega de Oropouche there was also loss of watermelons. She said in the Orange Grove area hundreds of acres of crops were affected though after final assessment it may be thousands of acres. “It is a very unhappy situation for farmers.”

She said the crops were planted in preparation for the Christmas season but with the past week’s flooding there would be very low local production and very high food prices. She also said there was the social impact of loss of income and employment for people working on farms.

Sookoo said there had been a lack of maintenance of water channels and for decades there had been talks about a comprehensive water management system but it was yet to be implemented. She explained the system would have retention ponds for the excessive rainfall in the rainy season which could be let out during the dry season.

“There is no plan going forward. What happened would reoccur.”

She said compensation for farmers was a non-issue as it is only paid to farmers which have legal titles and 95 per cent of farmers were waiting on the State to provide that. She added that bad policy and bad planning by Government would lead to more imported and unhealthy food and rising unemployment.

President of the Sheep and Goat Farmers Association Shiraz Khan told Sunday Newsday the flooding did not cause much loss in the livestock sector though there was loss of ducks and chickens kept in coops and pens close to the ground. Some farmers also lost chickens when the heavy winds carried the rain into the pens and the birds were cramped overnight in the cold area.

He said the major effect was on vegetable and root crop farmers who were reeling from losses. He predicted prices would go up but it may not affect consumers with the high level of imported food.

He said most farmers are unregistered and would not be compensated though he believed that, like other squatters, they should still be given some assistance to get back on their feet.

Khan also chided the Opposition, as the previous administration, and the Government for their treatment of farmers and said neither should be pointing fingers.

“The both of them have been very unjust to farmers. The both of them should share the blame.”

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat told Sunday Newsday he and his officers had been out monitoring the situation. He reported the areas that were normally hard hit had been affected, namely Orange Grove, Plum Mitan, Tabaquite, Caparo, Barrackpore, Penal, Debe, Moruga and parts of Mafeking and Navet.

He said, based on what he had seen, the scale of the damage was similar to Tropical Storm Bret. He reported some people had suffered complete losses and their fields submerged. He added, however, it was difficult to quantify.

He reiterated that by October 27 they plan to pay out claims from farmers for Bret at about $12 million and for these recent floods he expected registered farmers to make claims as well. On Khan’s suggestion of assistance for unregistered farmers, Rambharat said it was difficult as they were an unknown quantity. He said they had been pushing to get these farmers regularised and registered. He pointed out even without these farmers the annual claims from periodic instances of bad weather are still significant.

On Sookoo’s call for a water management system, Rambharat said there had been substantial investment in Orange Grove and Plum Mitan including massive retention ponds and repairs to the irrigation system. He said, however, that with excessive rainfall, water courses swollen and fields waterlogged “no amount of drainage or irrigation will help you.” He said with regularisation and granting of leases the ministry would encourage farming on safer grounds or farmers to make investment in fields to reduce the risk of them becoming waterlogged. He also said farmers had noted the unusual weather patterns and frequency of them which must be connected to changes globally in the climate.