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Farmers feeling the effects of climate change in Guyana
By Elan Era-John, Freelance Journalist
Farmers in Guyana are learning to cope with their experiences of climate change especially after the devastating floods of 2005 and 2006.
“We don’t have a regular wet and dry season anymore,” said Sundil Kissoon, an Abary, East Coast Demerara farmer, who is also an attorney. “What we now have is a prolonged dry period.”
According to Kissoon, the problems that come with the strange weather phenomena are further compounded because farmers in that area depend on rainfall and not on constructed drainage structures for their irrigation. “We have to irrigate our own land [since] we don’t get water from the Conservancy (East Demerara Water Conservancy). We don’t have the benefit of the infrastructure in place,” he said.
When the rains are not on schedule farmers in the area have to spend large sums of money on fuel to run water pumps to irrigate their farms. “We also have to spend money on pumps when the floods come…and we have to make sure that our dams are at least 24 inches higher than usual to prevent flooding,” he said.
Up to a few years ago Kissoon focused exclusively on rice cultivation but he now splits his time between his legal practice and livestock farming. “We could no longer afford to plant rice because the floods destroyed roads on which we drove our trucks,” he said, while explaining that he suffered about $1.9M in losses during the severe floods of early 2006. He suggested that government efforts to combat the effects of climate change should begin with its direct effects, that is, flooding and its effect on farmers.
Another farmer, Ramesh Shibsahai, of Little Biaboo, Mahaica Creek, Region Four, said his losses during the 2005/2006 floods were tremendous. “Cash crops, cattle, livestock and poultry, everything, close to $2M gone,” he said while explaining that the government aid he got after each flood helped him to get back on track. “We getting tremendous rainfall. Since I small we never experience this amount of rain.” Shibsahai is of the opinion that the phenomenon cannot be so easily controlled. “The Government could try to empolder (dam) some areas; empoldering would prevent highland water from reaching the farms. Empoldering is one of the main things to assist in this,” he said. He has already expressed this to government officials who visited Mahaicony in Region Five during the height of the flooding.
A decade ago, Shibsahai said, there was less rain and more dry weather - more time to plant.
“We had some rain, yes, but this was ‘in-between.’ The rain was seasonal and you could read the weather and plan the crops. If the rain continues, it will be very hard for me to remain in farming,” he said.
Sugrim Sarjoo, another Mahaica farmer, said he experiences flooding in his community three times per year. “It is getting hotter and hotter since the last two or three years,” he said, adding that past experiences with flooding prompted him and other farmers to cultivate on higher lands. But the waters rose as well, he said.
“We know we used to get flood in May and June, but now rains coming in December and January. It is difficult for rice farmers to read the weather like we could have some years ago,” added Mahaicony farmer, Shamkumar Persaud.
To him, the weather patterns now being experienced are different from the past especially for the last five years. Water levels in his community have only three months now returned to normal levels since the floods of January.
Guyana is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It is a developing country with a low-lying coastal strip of between 26 km to 77 km in width. Ninety per cent of the population resides in the coastal strip where the main urban centres are found. Seventy-five per cent of Guyana’s economic activity is located in this area, where the major commercial activities, such as agriculture, fisheries and industries are situated. The Guyanese government through its various autonomous bodies has been taking steps to deal with climate change.
Guyana is a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which became active in the country on November 17, 1994. Officials from the Hydro-meteorological Department of Guyana said that efforts are being made at the local level re adaptation and responding to the adverse effects of climate change.
“Drainage channels, pumps etc are being upgraded or installed to deal with excess water either from direct rainfall or runoff from highland areas and conservancies. [Because of] flooding caused by sea level rise and over-topping and damage to sea-defence, we are promoting sea-defence maintenance and mangrove management,” said Zainool Rahaman, from the Hydro-meteorological Department.
“Forecasts and information are disseminated widely to guide in the preparation of responses.” he said, emphasising that the primary impacts of Climate Change in Guyana are floods and droughts. He explained that many of the plans were developed with direct input from the farmers’ representatives or through other consultations. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through their Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project held a series of consultations in communities in all the coastal regions.
While some work on Guyana’s vulnerability to Sea Level Rise has already been done additional studies are being carried out to assess the country’s climate change risks.
“The Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change Project (MACC) will undertake a Pilot Vulnerability in Agriculture to Climate Change in Guyana. The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) will prepare a report on Guyana’s needs to respond adequately to Climate Change. The CCCCC will also identify high risk/highly vulnerable communities/areas,” Rahaman said.
Guyana's Initial National Communication (INC) on Climate Change, published in April 2002, identified several areas and sectors that will need help to carry out the response programmes needed to adapt to vulnerabilities and to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases. This document was prepared by the National Climate Committee (NCC) which established a National Task Force and, under the guidance of an international consultancy, also prepared the Action Plan. The Plan is a supplement to the INC and identifies the programmes the country should implement once financing and other resources are available.
Rahaman said that based on the INC data new Drainage and Irrigation designs are being implemented and the sea defences and conservancy dams are being elevated. Additionally, several agencies have partnered to do public awareness exercises on the impact of Climate Change. The agencies include the Ministry of Agriculture, the Guyana Energy Agency, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, the EPA and the Ministry of Housing and Water which are all represented on the NCC.
Guyana’s Action Plan stated that some mitigation measures should include carbon sequestration – removing carbon from the atmosphere - creating soil sinks, protecting the dry evergreen and mangrove forests, reducing the dependence on fossil fuel and carrying out studies of the economic aspects of mitigating green house gases
Also, the INC said that Guyana is a net sink country or a source for atmospheric carbon dioxide and records suggest an increase by 1.0°C in the mean annual temperature in Georgetown from 1909 to 1998. The INC also said that cooling periods on record appear to be due to the influence of major volcanic eruptions in several parts of the world. Prior to 1960 annual rainfall amounts were generally above or about normal. Since that time there has been a tendency for below normal rainfall. El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events have also severely affected Guyana especially in the last decade of the twentieth century. It is therefore necessary to focus on adaptation as a short-term priority, the INC said.
Institutional weaknesses were recognised as major hindrances to integrated planning and effective execution of programmes and activities as the document also identifies capacity building as a necessary programme to address adaptation and mitigation activities.
“The agro-climatic, and possibly the soil conditions, for the growth of crops may be modified by, for example, increase in drought periods and severity, and possibly wind erosion of soils, or more intense rainstorms leading to flooding and loss of crops, soil erosion and leaching of soil nutrients,” the INC said. The effects of rising temperature will cause in Guyana moisture changes, an increase in CO2 content in the atmosphere and an abundance of pest. Sea level rise will lead to the inundation of coastal areas and the overtopping of sea defences.
October, 2006 |
