MMA/ADA, rice farmers trade accusations over threatened crops By Clifford Stanley
Guyana Chronicle
February 20, 2007

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MANAGEMENT of the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) yesterday refuted allegations that it was unresponsive to an irrigation crisis threatening rice cultivations in the Abary/Berbice area.

General Manager, Mr. Aubrey Charles denied that MMA/ADA was at fault after farmers complained that hundreds of acres with plants are under threat of damage or even loss due to a lack of water.

As the two sides traded accusations, the complainants claimed the unavailability of water supply to irrigate is due to the clogged state of the secondary channels within the scheme, occasioned by the failure of MMA/ADA to clean and maintain them.

Charles explained, though, that MMA/ADA handed over the operations and maintenance of those channels to the planters since 1999 and, accordingly, reduced the charges to them.

“Rice farmers were supposed to operate and maintain these channels and they got a discount of nearly 50 per cent on their drainage and irrigation (D&I) charges because of that.”

Charles said many of the planters have not been paying even the reduced rates and taxes nor cleaning the waterways and this has been the situation for years.

He announced, however, that MMA/ADA intends to clean and rehabilitate the entire system and has already begun.

Charles said MMA/ADA machines recently worked on secondary channels south of the main canal aback of between Brittania and Seafield and are slated to move to Belladrum and complete the western end of the scheme before going further.

He said to rehabilitate the entire currently problematic secondary system would entail desilting some 650 miles over a long period.

Charles said MMA/ADA is sympathetic to the plight of those whose cultivations are affected but would be unable to help in any appreciable way because of the magnitude of the task to be accomplished within the time the assistance is needed.

He suggested they do self-help and pay up the arrears D&I tariffs which amount to millions of dollars, so that MMA/ADA could serve them more effectively.

“Many of the people who are complaining about the current admittedly deplorable situation have not paid a cent in D&I charges over the past ten years.”

“These farmers need to appreciate that their non-payment hampers the ability of MMA/ADA to give them the kind of service they are demanding,” Charles observed.

But many of those who owe claim they had not been paying because they had not been in receipt of good quality service from MMA/ADA.

Charles said the primary D&I system, for which MMA/ADA is responsible, remains in “top condition.”

“The conservancy and the main canal are all in good shape and delivering supplies (of water). It is up to the farmers to get the secondaries cleaned so they can benefit.”

Charles assured that the MMA/ADA conservancy has an adequate volume for the present crop.

However, reliable sources said about 500 acres of rice, aback of Tempie, also at West Coast Berbice, are among a larger acreage that would be lost if irrigation is not speedily done.