Food crops bulldozed

Food crops bulldozed
By CHARLENE BHARATT Friday, May 9 2008

A TRACTOR yesterday bulldozed five acres of agricultural land in Spring Village, Valsayn destroying fields of produce including ochro, pepper, dasheen bush and coconuts, leaving farmers very upset since the produce was ripe for harvest.

The angry farmers told this reporter that when they asked the driver of the tractor on whose instruction he was acting, to destroy the crops, he (the driver) said he was authorised by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

However, several efforts by Newsday to verify this with HDC yesterday proved futile with several calls to the corporation’s corporate communications department, going unanswered.

The farmers said that in the midst of spiralling food prices and a public plea by Consumer and Legal Affairs Minister Peter Taylor for increased local farming to reduce food costs, they cannot understand why anyone would want to destroy their gardens. The farmers added that for the past few years, they have applied for regularised land tenures but this has not been done. They are appealing to Agriculture Minister Arnold Piggott to intervene on their behalf and have them regularised so they could legitimately plant their crops on State lands.

According to brothers Vijay and Sonnylal Jagdeo, who have earned their living from working the land for the past 16 years, workers claiming to be contracted by the HDC were instructed to clear the land. Vijay said the destruction of the gardens came without warning and the five farmers were left with no choice but to watch their only source of income being destroyed. “I begged them to at least leave something behind...but they just kept going,” Vijay said.

“Government talking about agriculture but they are doing something else and now with this (the gardens) gone, we do not know where to turn. We do not know what to do,” Sonnylal cried.

National Food Crop Farmers Association’s Education and Research Officer Norris Deonarine, who represented the farmers, called on the Agriculture Ministry to give priority to regularisation of land tenures to enable farmers to take control of their land and develop it efficiently to ensure ample local food crop production.

Stupid niggas again.

The entire world is discussing the impending food crisis.

Here in Niggadad, they levelling crops left, right and centre. Niggas doh plant nutten, so to destroy ah food crop doh mean ah thing to them.

Once these dumb cyats could bling and get KFC to eat. Well is fock that.

Just now yuh go see dem eating big building in tong Manning build for dem.