Dear Editor,
The failure of agriculture is evident everywhere around the country. Productivity has declined everywhere. Agriculture has been virtually destroyed over the last four years. People are not planting the way they evvel did. Much land is not planted, lying fallow. Most of the population are worse off today than four years ago.
Shortages abound with high prices for local produce. There is a shortage of rice and sugar. In fact, sugar is imported and repackaged as Demerara sugar. Guyana sugar is sold for less abroad than in Guyana; local consumers are overcharged to help out GuySuCo which has been producing at worst levels, way below half the productivity than under the coalition regime. Price of rice has gone up like every other item; restaurants and consumers are complaining.
In addition to shortages of rice and sugar, there is a shortage of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are being imported and selling at lower prices than home grown Guyanese products. Chicken is also in shortage and being imported with poultry farmers complaining of huge losses from deaths of chicken. Restaurants have been complaining about scarcity of chicken and high costs. Farmers complain that they can’t afford the high cost of chicken feed to raise chicken; imported eggs for hatchery are of inferior quality. Mutton is also being imported.
Ideally, the temporary flow of oil wealth should have been used to strengthen the agriculture sector because historically it has been the backbone of the economy. When oil is gone, the country will depend on agriculture for survival as it has for time immemorial. One does not know where and how the oil money has been spent in the Ministry of Agriculture.
Is the Ministry serving as a conduit to pass on wealth to certain individuals? What has been going on with the pump stations where billions of dollars have been spent? And how about the huge amount of money spent on kokers, sheet piling, and drainage and irrigation at NDIA? Poor infrastructure work led to destruction of rice, sugar cane and other food crops as well as the death of tens of thousands of cattle and pigs and countless poultry. Farmers lost huge amounts of money; they skipped one rice crop because of uncertain weather patterns and lack of financial support from the government. Contractors made out like bandits without shame. There was hardly any transparency and accountability.
Expensive sports vehicles, including Bentley, Rolls Royce, Benz, Prados were purchased. Some individuals became owners of multiple mansions equipped with luxury interiors and equipment; the Pradoville II mansion (Goedverwagting) can hardly be compared with new mansions rising up including one at Bloomfield. What is the VP doing about limitless corruption? He talks a good talk but there has been no action to clamp down on the corrupt.
Yours truly,
Hemwatie Churaman