President announces whopping $7.8B flood-relief measures

PRESIDENT DR. IRFAAN ALI ANNOUNCECD A WHOPPING $7.8B relief package
targeting several households and farmers hit hard by the recent flooding which soaked a sizeable
portion of the country.
The package which found favour with the parliament will help some 2,000 farmers whose 50,000
acres of lands were inundated by unexpected heavy rainfall this year.
“For rice that was ready to harvest but lost in the floods, $80,000 per acre would be given to
those farmers. For rice sowed and lost in the autumn crop these farmers will receive $65,000 per
acre and for land that was completely prepared but was not sowed, $45,000 per acre would be
given to these farmers,” President Alli explained in his announcement.
In the relief package 60,000 bags of seed paddy would be made available as an additional
incentive in the measure. President Alli said the financial assistance in these four categories
would be in excess of some $3.2B.
For those who suffered livestock losses, the Guyanese Head of State pointed out that assistance
will be broken down into four categories: help for subsistence farmers; small farmers; medium
farmers, and large-scale farmers. Financial assistance to these has been calculated to the tune of
some $600M President Alli said.
“In addition to these direct transfers, the Ministry of Agriculture and GLDA (Guyana Livestock
Development Authority) will be assisting through genetic improvements, drainage and irrigation
works, technical support, and extension services to the approximate value of $500M,” the
president said.
There will be ongoing infrastructural improvement programmes to rebuild damns, farm-to-
market access roads, Hinterland roads, mining roads, community roads, drainage systems, and
other infrastructure that were destroyed or deteriorated during the floods.

“I am aware that this assistance will go a long way in bringing relief. However, it can never
compensate for the emotional and social lost, which I saw and experienced firsthand,” the
President admitted.
He added, “I assure you this Government will continue to work on an aggressive national
drainage plan in the context of climate change so as to mitigate further climate events and
disasters”.
He praised local institutions and regional and global bodies for their continued backing to reduce
financial losses and emotion stress the flood heaped on Guyanese.
“I take this opportunity to thank the thousands of Guyanese here and in the diaspora,
international agencies, and friends in the CARICOM and elsewhere for their kind support
during this period. I especially would like to thank the Ministry of Agriculture, the CDC,
and all the other sectors that worked long beyond the call of duty to bring relief,” President
Alli said.