…but none for rice?
Some folks might’ve been taken aback by the news of 2000 acres of rice over in Berbice that was threatened by drought – in the midst of all the rains we’ve been experiencing. And therein lies a story that hasn’t been told often enough to us coastlanders. We go about blithely with our business –- which is generally to figure out how to escape a government that only knows “tax and splurge! – with nary a thought about how tenuous our habitation on the coast is.
Point of the matter, we’re all pretty much living in a trench on the coastland. And you should get those eyebrows down, right now, if you think about it! Remember that word “backdam”, which most of us think is a PLACE where cane cutters labour? Well…think again! The “backdam” is a real “dam” that was created years and years ago by the Dutch and the British at the BACK of the cane fields to do two things.
Firstly to collect and hold back the waters that came down during the rainy season…and in the process, creating “conservancies” of water!! The water’s then released, in regulated amounts by IRRIGATION CANALS – to the cane fields and later the RICE fields. And that’s why the rice farmers complained when GuySuCo closed off the irrigation canals. But back to that trench, your Eyewitness mentioned a while back…Doesn’t that need another dam to form another bank?
Glad you asked, observant reader! And that’s just what our SEA wall, is!! When it was first constructed by the selfsame Dutch and British, they were called “sea dams”. They were needed for the simple reason that our coastland is BELOW sea level! Remember what we learnt in Primary School? So between the seawall and the backdam, we live in the trench!!
We get away with it (most times) because in addition to the irrigation canals, we also have DRAINAGE CANALS – all ending at kokers into the ocean – or rivers. During heavy rainfall, the folks in Albouystown know they’ll be flooded because the kokers can’t be opened to let out the water until the LOW tide. In really heavy extended rainfall, the East Coast – especially Buxton – floods for the same reason.
And now, armed with that lesson on our coastland hydraulics, patient readers, we should be able to appreciate not only the rice farmers’ woes…but potentially those of all of us on the coast where the sugar factories have been shuttered.
To cut to the chase, no one will keep those irrigation and drainage canals clear. Forget about the NDIA!
And within a year we’ll all be looking for canoes to move around!!
…with oil under them
With ExxonMobil striking oil with practically every hole under our waters, the French just jumped in. The oil company “Total” will now be trying to get a piece of the action. The question that arises, however, is: who’s in charge of negotiating for GUYANA’s share of the action?? God forbid it’s the same Raphael “Nassau” Trotman who gave away the store – and then some! – when he was jetted off to Texas!
Imagine what’ll happen if he’s taken over to Paris and the Eiffel Tower!! All those French sauces and Champagne will certainly make him giddier than the Texas Sirloins he wolfed down. But seriously folks, shouldn’t there be a proper team doing our negotiating for us? It’s not just that Trotman negotiated a terrible contract…it’s that he just won’t ADMIT to it when the smoking gun’s been shoved up his nose!!
What we can expect, then, if he’s allowed to be the “negotiator” again, we’d be adjudged “insane” by Einstein’s test.
Doing the same thing again and again…and expecting a different result!!
…including the Cricket Stadium
Seems our outfield at Providence has been hit by a “Mole Cricket” infestation. NO!! It’s not fellas who dig out “ground balls”. It’s a burrowing insect attack.
Just cover the ground with detergent – and they’ll be washed out!!
