‘Fire sale’ or farming for CLICO Estates?

The fate of eight plantations, covering close to 2,000 acres of farmland in St John’s farming belt that have been lying idle since their owner went out of business a decade ago, is at the centre of a political firestorm being played out on talk radio and social media.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir and the Democratic Labour Party, which formed the Government when insurance giant CLICO collapsed, have clashed over allegations that the Barbados Labour Party Government plans a “fire sale” of CLICO farmlands as residential property “under cover of darkness”.

The CLICO farms consist of approximately 1,790 arable acres: 941 acres at Todds and 850 acres at Wakefield. Todds is an amalgamation of four farms – Henley, Pool, Bowmanston and Todds, while Wakefield incorporates Clifton Hall, Hothersal, Lemon Arbor and Wakefield.

Now the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has called onWeir to back up the denial he made on a radio call-in.

On Wednesday, the DLP’s Agriculture and Environment spokesperson Andre Worrell first claimed that the Todd’s and Wakefield estates are to be sold off.

Then, Weir took to Down to Brass Tacks programme on Starcom Network to refute the suggestion.

“I don’t know how you could turn agricultural land into a [residential] development without first involving the Ministry of Agriculture.

“We have a Chief Agricultural Officer who is highly trained and makes informed decisions on these things before they even reach Town Planning [Office],” Weir said.

But in a release published on its Facebook page today, the DLP said a Ministerial statement was needed for clarity, contending that Weir’s words on the radio programme did not hold any weight.

“Mr Weir has been a Cabinet member long enough to know that interventions on radio talk shows are not enunciated Government policy.

“At no time in his extensive telephone conversation did Weir say that the CLICO lands will be offered to farmers or shareholders for agricultural purposes.

“Had the Government been transparent in its initial sale announcement there would be no need to speculate.

“The Agriculture Minister is also aware that the final word regarding change of use is not his. Those decisions are made by the Minister in charge of Town Planning: The Prime Minister.”

The DLP claimed that the farms “are in the high productivity agro-ecological zone and have traditionally been at the upper end of the agricultural productivity scale”.

Under the 2008-2018 DLP administration, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Barbados Agricultural Development Management Company (BADMC) and the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) to bring those lands back into agriculture.

A formal plan entitled Returning CLICO Lands To Full Production was drafted.

Then DLP maintained that farmers, either through co-operatives or as sole purchasers, should be offered the opportunity to buy or lease the plantations.

The party said: “We have maintained that sub-division of prime agricultural land in these economic circumstances for housing development purposes should never be an option in a country with a food import bill in excess of $600m.

“There should be no fire sale of prime agricultural land under cover of darkness.

“Barbados must have an official Government position specifically targeting the plans for the CLICO agricultural lands at Todds and Wakefield Plantations.”