Dams near ready

A six-million-gallon pond project for the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) at River Plantation, St Philip should be finished soon.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir said on Wednesday that the $6 million dam project, expected to bring relief to farmers working on 200 acres of farmland, will be completed by the end of this month to take advantage of the current rainy season.

He also disclosed that the dam being excavated at Haggatts, St Andrew will also be completed soon.

“We are looking to move to Spring Hall to do a similar thing so that they can also get water through the reservoir that will be established there,” Weir noted. “Many of the times you will find that farmers, especially through the prolonged drought don’t get access to water because we have not been doing water harvesting. This is something that when I went to the Ministry I was determined that we had to do, and we got the support of the Prime Minister and because of that support we are here, and you can see for yourself that here at River Plantation this dam is being established to expand Brown’s Pond. If you go to Haggatts, you will see the one that is there and then the one at Spring Hall, St Lucy.”

Minister Weir also indicated that the Government will be working on another dam project at Wakefield, St John which will benefit about 50 farmers in the area.

Farmers across Barbados have been complaining about not being able to irrigate their crops, especially in a drought, because of the unavailability of harvested water. (AH)