East Coast farmers receive Gov’t’s flood relief grant

Several East Coast farmers who were severely affected by the nationwide flooding earlier this year, received flood relief grants at the Hope Secondary School and National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), Mon Repos Branch.

The distribution exercise was led by Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Hon. Nigel Dharamlall M.P. and his regional team.

Minister Dharamlall spoke about the significant investments made by the Government to enhance the region’s drainage and irrigation systems which he believes provided some form of security during this year’s rainy season.

“This is what has saved the farmers of Region Four and this is what saved the households of Region Four. Otherwise, this region would have been underwater.  

So, in other regions, we have to make similar investments but today’s event is an investment towards the humanitarian cause of a farmer that your farms have been affected, that some of your households have been affected. This caused His Excellency President Mohamed Irfaan Ali to take a decision in August to provide relief support to 52,000 farmers and households in the country,” the Minister said.

The Local Government Minister also reiterated the Government’s position on pressing charges concerning those who try to defraud the state by falsely claiming financial loss due to the flooding. This direction, he explained, has caused many to lose out on benefitting from this programme which he stressed is unfair to those who were genuinely affected by the natural disaster.

As such, he urged the gathering to notify the relevant authorities about those who collect the grants under false pretense.

“We have already pressed charges against both officials and persons that we found doing this, and so we need your cooperation to ensure persons do not commit this crime without actually losing anything,” Minister Dharamlall said.

Rahman Samad, a cash crop farmer told DPI that he, “feels great that they (government) are assisting we with something than to have nothing, you know, at least we can start to do some preparation and keep going.”

He added that the Government’s support in the agriculture sector has been tremendous in terms of drainage and irrigation and farm-to-market roads among others which he believes demonstrates their commitment to developing the sector in every aspect.

“As farmers, we need to work together with the Minister and the regional engineer to ensure that things are okay, you know…that is the support we need but sometimes things do be difficult,” Samad said.

Lauren Ogle, a kitchen garden farmer said that this initiative implemented by the PPP/C Government is one which she is grateful for since it identifies their acknowledgement about the farmers’ hardship during this time.

“I feel good. I saw some of them in Region Five getting back their livestock to give a good start so at least that would encourage you to continue where you left off due to the floods,” she said.

In August, President Ali announced that over $7.8Billion was allocated to assist those who suffered losses during the natural disaster.