NIC Urges Stakeholders to Protect Systems from Vandalism

Farmers and community stakeholders are being urged to protect the resources of the National Irrigation Commission Limited (NIC) from vandalism.

The call has come from Chief Executive Officer at the NIC, Dr. Mark Richards, who said the entity’s property in various communities has been tampered with, the result of which has been periods of loss of supply to customers in the agricultural sector.

“We have had a number of incidents in recent times…where meters were tampered with (and) in Clarendon, one of our wells was vandalised and we lost supply,” he said.

“In an era of drought … we need to save every drop of water so we can continue with the productivity that we want. I am imploring everybody, farmers and community members to protect NIC’s assets as best as we can,” Dr. Richards pleaded, while addressing a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank.

Dr. Richards said the cooperation of citizens is needed in order to ensure that the full potential of the agricultural sector can be realised.

“We have to have that level of understanding and cooperation with our stakeholders to ensure that we remain viable and that agriculture can provide that growth that the Government is anticipating to come from this sector,” he said.