Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 22, 2021 News, Special Person
Defying the odds to keep ploughing his rice fields…
“Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labour of man. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilisation.” – Daniel Webster
By Malisa Playter-Harry
Kaieteur News – Despite being a rice farmer all his life, Yadoo Hanoman called Rocky, found that years of expertise was no match for the recent flood which devasted him mentally, physically and financially. Indeed, this was the plight of many other local farmers who were dependent on farming for their survival. When the flood came, they were hard hit and suffered millions of dollars in losses.
Rocky of No.64 Village, Upper Corentyne, Berbice, is still reeling from the impact of the flood situation. His losses, he estimates to be a few millions. But he is well aware that farmers, who are regarded as the backbone of the nation, must continue to farm in order to feed the nation.
The father of two – a seven-year-old and a four-year-old – and the husband of a schoolteacher, has been engaged in rice farming for over 18 years. Farming, including rice cultivation and cattle rearing, he related, is a tradition of the family he was born into.
Reflecting on his upbringing, he recalled attending the Tagore Memorial Secondary School and there he wrote seven subjects at the CXC level. However, after school he found that he was passionate about getting into agriculture and so followed in the path of his father.“My father was a farmer and most of my cousins involved in it too. I always dreamed of being a rich farmer, but you know, the flood season didn’t do me so well.” Rocky shared.
When the floods hit in June, he was on a one-week trip to the United States and so, at first, had to depend exclusively on his trusted and hardworking labourers to overlook his 300 acres of rice lands located at No. 64, 63 and 62 Villages. Despite their valiant efforts, the waters ravaged his crops, causing him to lose in excess of 140 acres of rice.
“I finished harvesting in April and I was planting back, when I left…I couldn’t keep my mind on where I was, I was worried about what was going on with my rice. While I was over there, I tell the boys to pump out some of the water but it na really do much,” he recounted.
According to Rocky, although the one-week visit to the foreign land was for a wedding, he simply could not enjoy himself as he had hoped. During his stay, he revealed that he was being kept abreast by his workers about the flood situation. He understood even then that it would be a difficult situation to face when he returned since this was not only his livelihood but his workers’ “bread and butter” too.
The recent flood has since been considered the worst in recent times, which devastated thousands of cash crops, rice and cattle farmers as well as many residents.
A team of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, led by Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, had set out to visit every flood-affected area and implemented relief efforts based on guidance received, especially from those affected, and technical personnel.
When Rocky was eventually able to return home, he said that he contacted officials at the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and they sent two engineers to assess the situation where his rice lands are located. “When we go down at the back there, we see how the water was coming heavy from the backlands and so they decided to clean the creeks so that the water na gonna go through the rice fields,” he recalled.
But according to Rocky, “somewhere around the 20th June we started to get some relief when the hymac was sent to do the embankment.” Today, despite the devastating effects of the flood, things are getting back to some sort of normalcy.
According to Rocky, before the flood, he would normally take a loan from Nand Persaud and Company, one of the country’s largest milling companies, which is paid back gradually after harvesting. However, because of the flood, Hanoman said that he was forced to take additional loans with the fear that he may have to put his house and land transport on the line as collateral.
He is however persevering through the difficulties and is taking solace in the fact that his family has been his strongest support system. According to him, family members who live abroad, have chipped in to provide support in whatever way they can and his wife has been using her salary too to help during these trying times.
Although not very religious, Rocky, who considers himself a family-oriented man, believes in kindness and humanitarianism. In fact, he revealed that the flood situation he experienced recently has caused him to see the world differently. He appreciates, now more than ever, the little things and sacrifices made by those that surround him. “I don’t go to church, but I believe in kindness,” he quipped, as he acknowledged that many other farmers suffered just as badly as he or even worse.
But he intends to continue to farm and even plans to expand in the future since he sees farming as a necessary means of feeding the nation and keeping the economy stable.
It was Daniel Webster, a former Secretary of State of the United States, who said, “Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labour of man. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilisation.”
Our ‘Special Person’ certainly has an appreciation for this notion. He currently has within his employ more than seven men who work daily on his rice lands. He is dependent on these men when it comes to preparing, sowing and harvesting his lands, and so despite his financial challenges, he has vowed to keep them employed since he is well aware that they too have families to provide for. As he does his part to help sustain the nation’s agriculture production, farmer Rocky is hopeful that relief efforts announced by President, Irfaan Ali, will help to cushion the impact the flood situation has had.
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