The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV) is doing everything it can to guarantee optimal water management for rice areas in the Nickerie district. This is reported by the ministry. In this context, two contracting agreements were recently signed with the company Naturata Reliability NV for the complete replacement of two pumps in Wakay and maintenance of a third pump respectively.
Representing the Ministry, Acting Director of Agriculture, Soedeshchand Jairam, signed the contract and for Naturata Reliability NV Rawienkumar Sidhoe, operations manager. This project will be financed from the state budget. Nickerie has been struggling for years with a shortage of irrigation water for maximum rice sowing. The infrastructure there has been severely neglected for years. The ministry is working with minimal but expensive interventions to have the infrastructure so far that we can move towards optimal sowing of our paddy for our rice areas in Nickerie, said LVV minister Parmanand Sewdien, who was also present at this signing. Currently, 25 thousand hectares are sown on a seasonal basis. The intention is to increase the sowing to 40 thousand to 45 thousand hectares with the help of well-functioning pumps, which will result in not only an improved food supply, but also more foreign exchange for our country.
Earlier this month a contract was signed with Kuldipsingh Infra NV for the rehabilitation of the pumping station in Wageningen. Three new pumps have been manufactured for this project via a credit line from India, the first of which was recently installed. In this coming phase, the other two pumps will be installed by Kuldipsingh Infra NV. The government of Suriname is responsible for the policy and development of the agricultural sector in Suriname. In this regard, the efforts to promote the production of rice and rice products have been a priority area for LVV for a long time.
