Prolonged dry conditions linked to El Niño are forcing cash crop farmers to adapt, with rising input costs squeezing their livelihoods even as they hold on to farming as a way of life.
Black Bush Polder farmer Indergeet Sriram, who has farmed since childhood, said sprinklers have become essential to keep his crops from drying out.
“If you ain’t get water your crop will die,” Sriram told Ignite News, adding that pump-fed irrigation dries out too quickly, prompting him to install sprinklers instead.
Despite the added costs, Sriram said he has no plans to abandon cash crop farming for alternatives such as aquaculture.
Fellow farmer Rickford George, who has farmed since 2010, said salinity and water shortages have hit his crops hardest during the dry season, compounding pressure from rising input costs and fluctuating market prices. A bag of balanjay, he said, is currently fetching around $10,000, up from a low of $5,000.
El Niño-driven heat is also causing blossom drop, reducing yields, George said.
“The balanjay is scarce, and right now it is not bearing. But due to the weather, the blossoms are dropping,” he said, attributing the losses to the changing weather pattern.
To keep his fields hydrated, George said he pumps water from a roadside trench in the early hours of the morning, when traffic is lighter. He also rotates his crops to help preserve soil productivity.
The Guyana Hydrometeorological Service has said sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific are nearing the El Niño threshold, with climate models placing the likelihood of the phenomenon developing at around 90 per cent. Its effects on Guyana are expected to intensify from July and persist through the rest of the year, with the most intense heat forecast between mid-August and October, bringing prolonged dry spells and reduced soil moisture nationwide.
Both farmers said they intend to keep adapting rather than abandon cash crop farming, despite the mounting challenges posed by the dry spell.
Farmer, Black Bush Polder
