The flooding that inundated several parts of Guyana over the last two weeks has destroyed most of the cassava crops, which indigenous communities depend on for their food and livelihoods.
A combination of heavy rainfall on May 26 and 27 May and high tides caused the flooding.
In an interview with Loop Caribbean News, Laura George, Governance and Rights Coordinator at the Amerindian Peoples Association, said the situation in these often remote communities is bordering on famine.
“The farms that have been destroyed are the farms that were ready to be reaped. Also, those that are in the middle of ripening. The flooding now has severely impacted their food security.”
“There is going to be food shortages because the cassava takes at least seven to nine months before people can reap it. So there is going to be extreme, I don’t know if I should say famine, but people will need a lot of food. Not only for the time now but at least for the next year or maybe the next two years,” George stated.
