Blue Creek farmer pioneers irrigated rice
This weekend marked the continuation of one of the driest dry seasons in recent memory, with many parts of the country receiving less than half of their normal rainfall for the first four months of the year. But while most Belizeans look vainly to the heavens in search of precipitation, one farmer has decided that his livelihood ought not to be left to fate. Janelle Chanona reports.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
When the Blue Creek Dam was completed in 1981, it was used to supply electricity to over 40 homes in the Mennonite community of Blue Creek in the Orange Walk District. As the size of the community grew, the demand for power exceeded the dam’s potential and the village hooked up to the BEL grid. But that doesn’t mean the dam has outlived its usefulness.
Peter Dyck
“The purpose of the dam today is more than we ever dreamed of. When the dam was built, I was a small kid when it was built, I still remember it. We never thought of using it for irrigation purposes and today we use it for rice farming. We’re growing this year an expected 2,000 acres of rice, under irrigation.”
Unlike their peers in the south, these rice farmers have given up on Mother Nature raining down any kindness and taken matters into their own hands. Since 1991, the Dyck family has pumped water out of this reservoir and into their rice paddies. The difference the water makes is clear in more ways than one.
John Dyck
“Rice depends on water. If it didn’t have water it would not full up and if the grain is not filled, when you mill it, it’s not crystallized and then it breaks. That’s why you see a lot of times, you have a lot of broken rice in the shops.”
This year the Dycks invested in a half a million-dollar tractor with a sophisticated laser system as part of major plans for expansion.
John Dyck
“We have a tractor with a laser scraper, a John Deere tractor with a laser to level the fields. What we do is we level the fields in 3rd acre blocks at zero levels so if you put three inches of water, the whole field is covered with water.”
Janelle Chanona
“And you are doing all of this because you see the good that can come out of using this type of irrigation?”
John Dyck
“Yeah. Because that way, we are guaranteed we are going to have a crop.”
And the moral of this story is…
John Dyck
“Belize need to be self sufficient. We are independent, we chose to be independent. And we should not only be independent, we should be self sufficient. And we see the potential, we can show people if they want to come and see, that we can grow, not only for self sufficiency but for export.”
Janelle Chanona for News Five.
Negotiations are underway to open up the Mexican market for Belizean rice and a new bridge to be built between Blue Creek and La Union Mexico should make that international commerce much easier.
