REMARKS BY THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, HON. ROBERT M. PERSAUD, MBA, MP AT “A DIALOGUE ON CLIMATE CHANGE” AND THE AIRING OF THE ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY: AN INCOVENIENT TRUTH BY AL GORE

Today as we observe World Environmental Day, of which the theme for this years is “Melting Ice: A Hot Issue”, it is not difficult to note the changes around our environment that makes the significance of this day so important. These changes signal a striking reality of what global warming and climate changes is causing to our environment right here in Guyana as well as in other States. For as we gather here today, we are battling with the effects of a rainfall pattern that has increasingly become intense, taxes our drainage system and creates great discomfort for our farmers and citizens.

Climate change is causing a major shift in our way of life, be it at home, in the field or at work. We have to adapt ourselves to different ways of locating where we live, how we build our houses; with the changing weather patterns we have to modify our cropping pattern, our technologies and much more

Already global weather patterns are becoming unstable and unpredictable with heavier rainfall recorded during rainy seasons and hot days throwing our ecosystems and way of life as we know it into a topsy-turvy. 

Guyana has already begun to feel the effects of the changing weather patterns as high and unprecedented levels of rainfall are being recorded especially since 2005.

The Hydromet Service results showed statistically significant long term increasing trends at the 10% level in both daily maximum and minimum temperature extremes since 1954 for the coast. Hot days and warm nights show increasing trends. They are increasing by 7 days per decade and 2 days per decade, respectively. This contrasts with a reduction in the trends of cool days and cool nights, implying a shift in the distribution in temperatures. Increases in the higher tails of the distribution are 0.25^oC per decade and 0.43^oC per decade for maximum and minimum temperature, respectively.

Let us look at the rainfall data for the month of May, between May 1 to 20, 292 inches were recorded (all stations). But between May 21-31, the amount 397inches recorded. This shows the intense rain pattern.

These changes come at a significant cost to our farmers, residents and the economy. Let me illustrate a few of the changes that are noticeable in our changing weather pattern and how it affects the agriculture sector. 

• The Ministry of Agriculture research arm – NARI – has been constantly working on ways and methods of conserving water and also developing drainage systems and bed layouts in farms so as to reduce flooding. Technologies being introduced are: Drip irrigation system, sprinkle irrigation, Increase in mulching so as to reduce water loss from soil.  GENE BANKS are being established in the Rupununi where various cultivars and species are cultured and kept so that the Nurseries will always have plants in stock in the event of flood or other natural disaster so as to have a constant source of planting materials. They are also researching on varieties that are adapted to the interior soil and climate conditions so as to reduce dependence on the more vulnerable low lying coastal area. Work on improving varieties to be more adapted to the prevailing conditions are also ongoing, such as concentrating on producing short term varieties which would produce more and would be more adapted to the soil and climatic conditions.

• Unseasonal rainfall has caused losses in the rice industry, as it is critical that certain stages in the production be done during the rainy season or the dry season. For example, the intense and early rainfall prevented the harvesting of about 1000 acres of rice in various regions. Also, the current rainy season has delayed sowing. So far, 28,000 acres have been sown which is below the 40,000 acres projected for the second crop. The extreme weather patterns are now a critical factor, which contributes to the cost of production going up. Additional costs include damage to equipment, utilising of extra fuel, extra labour, and losses in opportunity days. For example due to extreme conditions the cost of land preparation can go from $2,200 - $2,500 an acre.  

·        The growth of sugar cane, as for all agricultural crops is highly dependent on the availability of right amount of moisture. In Guyana, where cane culture is primarily rain-fed, the amount and distribution of precipitation has a significant impact on the cropping pattern and field productivity. Both excessive and deficient rainfall will adversely affect cane growth. The number of opportunity day for tillage is 105 annually. But in the 2005 and 2006 period, the average recorded opportunity days have been only 73.75. This has had the impacting cycle age and consequent decrease in overall yield.

 This means that the Government has had to allocate more resources to fund mitigation and adaptation measures for the sector. This is necessary as the loss can be tremendous. As a result of the 2005/2006 floods, the total amount of losses in the agriculture sector as estimated by the ECLAC report was 10.9 billion Guyana dollars.

We are now implementing a master plan for the entire drainage and irrigation scheme to cope with these realties. In recent years, we spend in excess of $1.2 billion annually from our own budget. These are augmented by other resources contracted and mobilised by the Government of Guyana. In fact, it is projected that over the next three years we will spend in excess of US$15M on drainage and irrigation much of which is to enhance our drainage capacity for the rainy season and provide better irrigation for the dry season.     

The process of getting the entire sector to understand and prepare for the fallouts caused by climate change on agriculture will have to be accelerated.

Today’s dialogue on climate change and the airing of Al Gore’s documentary – An Inconvenient Truth - is indeed very opportune.  

As what you will observe in the documentary, there is compelling evidence of what is unfolding before our eyes.

Nations such as ours must intensify lobbying of those responsible for the greatest contributions to global warming and climate change causing them to change their attitude. They must recognize that they have a moral obligation to help the countries that are affected most by global warming, countries like ours that lie below a rising sea level and with limited resources to defend ourselves against damages caused not by us but contributed by others with greater economic wealth.

In Guyana, we are now confronted with and are experiencing - an inconvenient reality.

 

June 5, 2007

Umana Yana