A Basic T&T Farmer's Perspective On Water

As a registered farmer, licensed by the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Agriculture, I'll admit I'm somewhat new to agriculture and that I'm learning a lot from the people around my lands in South Oropouche. I've been doing well in getting advice from the 'older heads' in the area. Even with my relative inexperience, I don't need to be told that water is important for agriculture - that it is a requirement for agriculture.

No water, no germination. No water, no harvest. No water, no profit. No water, no money. No water, no sense.

For myself, I'm working on infrastructure while dry conditions and my bank account persist. Preparing land, by itself, is not cheap and requires a lot of planning. Anticipating weather conditions is an important part of farming and I got lucky this year in that I didn't put down any crops because I had a bad feeling about this dry spell we've been having since January. It helps, too, that at this point I'm not completely dependent on revenue from agriculture - so I could afford to make that decision. With my largest pond dried up (I let one of the neighbouring farmers use it), I have an opportunity to get in there and clear it up. In that, the dry season has worked to my advantage - through serendipity and an odd feeling in my bones earlier this year.

It doesn't mean that I don't plan to plant some things this year. Far from it. I even intended to get started on some aquaculture this year, though I don't think it will happen - its unlikely we'll get enough rain water later this year to make it viable (and the Ministry of Agriculture is as uncooperative as a UDECOTT investigation). The assumption that the Ministry of Agriculture actually works for farmers seems very counterintuitive with my experience over the last few years. The 'older heads' have told me that they typically aren't even worth the trouble of dealing with. They almost never have the trees or plants that are supposed to go to farmers because, it seems, they sell all of the plants to resellers. $10 cost, $50 selling price. Corruption? Maybe.

As a farmer, I have to consider everything involved before putting down any form of long term or short term crop. First, I have to consider the weather. Next, I have to consider the amount of standing water I have available for irrigation. I have to consider soil conditions, my own resources for spray and fertilizer. Organic farming? Don't get me started on that.

WASA has made my decision for me because now WASA wants to charge farmers for river water under these drought conditions. And while a lot of noise is being made about it, it would seem that many farmers may have to either bite the bullet and pay WASA for this water or the farmers would simply let the fields rest - and letting the fields rest can be bad. Why? You know that dust that you complain about when the wind kicks up? That includes topsoil which is typically built up at the cost of farmers finance and sweat equity.

It isn't the fault of farmers that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago decided to spend money on silly conferences last year instead of getting desalinisation plants last year. It isn't the fault of farmers that the weather conditions are bad. It isn't the fault of farmers that it is a hard financial decision for themselves to plant or not to plant based on water availability.

Norris Deonarine, a friend of mine and President of the National Foodcrop Farmer's Association, tried to discuss things with WASA. While no headway was really something I expected, Norris tried. And he didn't try just for all the farmers - his efforts are inexorably linked to anyone who eats in this country.

It isn't the fault of farmers that local food prices will go up. And if you think it is simply vegetable and fruit produce, think again. Cows, goats, chickens and ducks require water. Even the local wildlife, a blackmarket economy unto itself, requires water.

Of course, if you put corbeaux (coragyps atratus) on the menu, things could be looking up.

What to do? Maybe we could do our own desalinisation. There are methods of doing it, such as can be found here, and a better link here (Microsoft DOC format). It's possible, it may even be practical - but the question is whether it is legal. With WASA's all encompassing rights to anything under the ground, it becomes a question as to whether it would be legal.

But then, has WASA been doing a good job in handling these resources? Apparently not good enough. Should farmers be trapped in such a legality when the organization holding the rights stands accused of corruption and demonstrated unreliability?