Anxious to get back to their farmlands, Buxton farmers have proposed that they be employed by the army to help clear the backlands, saying the process has been taking too long, leaving them unable to provide for their families despite partial compensation for lost crops.
The farmers made the proposal yesterday during a short meeting with Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud and other ministry officials. They also expressed concern over the severe damage to the farmlands caused by heavy machinery which would result in them having to undertake a great deal of work to get the land back into use.
The small group of farmers was accommodating to the minister and welcomed his visit but was mostly concerned about the remainder of the compensation.
After 11 persons were slaughtered in Lusignan residents from there as well as the surrounding villages had lobbied President Bharrat Jagdeo to bulldoze several acres aback of the East Coast communities. It was felt that the backlands were being used as a safe haven by criminals.
After the government began clearing, there were complaints from the farmers who had lost their crops and had been denied access to their lands, and some compensation was arranged for those whose produce had been destroyed in the exercise.
The farmers present yesterday sought and received assurance from the minister that they would be paid the remainder of the compensation as promised, since they had been forced to abandon their livelihoods and “sit and wait until the joint services finish tearing up the land before we could come back,” as one farmer put it.
He stated there was still verification outstanding for some seven farmers who were yet to be compensated.
Technical Officer Malcolm McKenzie who was also on hand for the meeting yesterday told farmers that those with permanent crops would also be compensated, but noted that an assessment was still to be done.
Persaud interjected and advised that an interim payment would be given to those farmers, and added that the final payment would come after a final evaluation.
Buxton/Foulis Neighbour-hood Democratic Council Chairman Randolph Blair also said that the list of farmers to benefit from the different levels of compensation had not been completed and advised the minister that it would have to be updated to capture other persons. He said that many farmers had not attended meetings and this had resulted in the shortcomings of the present list.
Meanwhile, pointing to the levels of destruction caused by the exercise, farmers told the minister that the clearing had damaged drainage and irrigation tremendously.
Persaud informed them that some $16M would be spent to clear the pump basin located at the front of the village. He said works should start in another two weeks. The clearing of other drainage linkages, he said was also slated to be done.
In this regard too, Persaud told the group that in the longer term the drainage and the entire mechanism would have to be re-established.
“You see once the farmers are willing to go back to the land we will sit down and… [work out] wider drainage and irrigation plans. Once the demand is there the necessary action would be taken,” he said.
Regional Chairman Clement Corlette who was also part of the visiting team told Persaud that he was not satisfied with the conduct of the exercise and noted that when it was completed there would be a whole lot of work to be done by the farmers themselves before they could continue to plant. He said too that the prolonged exercise was also taking a toll on the livelihoods of those affected.
“We are only saying compensation, but no way are they able to just sit by and just wait… let a time-frame be set for the work to come to an end,” he said.
GDF officer in charge of the operations, Major Gary Beaton, could not provide a time when exactly the exercise would come to an end, and neither could Persaud.
At this point the farmers in unison suggested that they be employed to assist in the clearing exercise.
“It’s best they occupy our time, pay us and let us help in the clearing of the land. We can come to some agreement and help because the machines destroying the land bad,” said Buxton farmer Roy Cato. His suggestion met agreement from other farmers.
However, he said he was sure that the joint services would try their best to finish as soon as possible.
The ministry officials also handed over seeds to the farmers’ committee which will spearhead the distribution of seeds and weedicide. Persaud encouraged persons with enough land space in their backyards to pursue farming on a small scale, emphasizing that this was part of promoting the ministry’s ‘Grow More’ campaign.
Persaud promised the farmers that he would keep in touch and assist along the way.
‘Joint services reaped produce’
Even as some of the farmers retreated into little groups and grumbled among themselves about the pace of the joint services clearing operation, one farmer approached the minister and claimed that some joint services ranks had stolen his produce.
Sandy Adams, a banana farmer, told the minister that he was unable to reap over 1000 pounds of bananas which had not been destroyed during the operation, but rather reaped by joint services ranks, and he had not been compensated. Major Beaton was asked about the allegation and denied it.
Adams later told this newspaper that he was afraid to venture out into his farm when the operation had only just begun and all his bananas had been “ready.”
He said he later saw a loaded army vehicle retreat with a large quantity of bananas and even though he had gone to the ministry for assistance, he had not been assisted.
“Now they denying it, but it’s not me alone; a lot of other people thing was reaped and taken out of the village… plenty greens and so,” he said.
Another farmer who said if he had known that the exercise would have begun so early, he would have reaped his squash, said he also saw vehicles leave with much produce even as the exercise had started.
“I am just waiting to see how much more they will give us, and I want to know really how exactly they determining how much they giving us, ’cause some of us had lots of things growing here,” he said.
“And it took me three years to get my farm up and I invested a lot and if it has to take me three years to get it back to how it was I will take the time and get it up. It’s the only thing I know.”
Another farmer who said he had been compensated with some $130 000 so far, said he felt that the exercise was taking far too long.
He said he was anxious to get back on his farm since it was his only means of earning a living.
Convinced that the government could have used some better measures to clear the backlands and avoid so much damage to crops which utilized hard labour, Phillip Andrews, a father of 7 said his farm had been the first to be bulldozed.
He grew pigeon peas, callaloo, pakchoi, bora and ochro, and he was still devastated that he had lost so much. “I used to make thirty thousand dollars a week and I could have provided several vendors in Bourda market with greens three times a week. Now $130 000 could never compensate,” he insisted.
(Heppilena Ferguson)
