NIC expands irrigation works to boost farm water access and food security

The National Irrigation Commission Limited (NIC) is pushing ahead with several infrastructure upgrades and related programmes meant to give customers greater access to water while strengthening farm output and the island’s food supply.

Rohan Stewart, Director of Engineering and Technical Services at the NIC, told a recent JIS ‘Think Tank’ that the agency is moving aggressively on well-drilling work to draw on new groundwater supplies.

“These are in an effort to improve our water production and to support our customers. In the development of our irrigation system, first, we must know how much water is available, and then we will move outwards from there,” he said.

“If we know how much water is available, then we can design systems to be able to meet the needs of these customers,” Mr. Stewart added.

Among the schemes now under way are the Pedro Plains Irrigation Expansion Project in St. Elizabeth, the Lower Leyton Agricultural Development Project in Portland, and the Hinds Town Agricultural Development Project in St. Ann.

“We’re also looking at expansion of existing systems. We have in Clarendon the Freetown area where we’re extending that system. Later this year, we will also be looking at an area in Rhymesbury, Clarendon, an area called ‘Fall Basket Road’, where we are going to expand that system to get additional customers onto our system so that they will be able to continue their production,” Mr. Stewart said.

“There are farmers in the area already. What is needed is for them to get reliable water supply, which we are intending to do,” he further stated.

The NIC’s current slate of work sits within a broader drive to strengthen climate resilience and shield the incomes of its customers, farmers in particular.

“The building of long-term resilience systems is there to protect…our agricultural security and our food security, and the NIC contributes to that,” Mr. Stewart said.

The Commission also handles drain clearing in Upper and Lower Morass, Santa Cruz and Holland in St. Elizabeth, work that helps keep irrigation flowing in the “breadbasket parish”.

“We have approximately 157 kilometers of drains that we clean in that area, [and] we are procuring additional equipment to be able to manage that and improve the area so that agricultural activity can continue. If the drains are not clean and the water is not kept at a lower level, then that activity will not be able to go on [and] the communities and the farmers in that area will not benefit,” Mr. Stewart said.