NIC to Purchase Additional Generators

• The National Irrigation Commission Limited (NIC) has received just over $107 million in funding through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining to procure additional generators aimed at strengthening the resilience of irrigation systems during power disruptions. The generators are intended to safeguard water supply to farmers following extreme weather events that impact the national electricity grid, such as Hurricane Melissa on October 28 last year.
• NIC’s Director of Engineering and Technical Services, Rohan Stewart, said the investment forms part of the Commission’s forward strategy, noting that “the NIC, through the Ministry of Agriculture, has received funding to procure additional generators to the tune of just over $107 million.”
• He explained that NIC’s infrastructure itself has proven resilient, stating that “our systems have been developed and built with resilience in place,” and that major water-production facilities were not structurally impacted during recent adverse weather.
• Mr. Stewart highlighted that power loss remains the main challenge after severe weather, noting that “the only damage that we suffered from the water production system was the loss of power,” underscoring the importance of reliable backup generation.
• Once procured, the additional generators will help restore water to customers still affected by power constraints and support longer-term planning, including improved pre-positioning of equipment and fuel management ahead of hurricanes.
• For farmers, this could accelerate the restoration of agricultural production. This can support faster normalization of agricultural output, which should help to support steadier domestic food production and in turn, contain food-driven inflationary pressures.

(Sources: JIS and NCBCM Research)