Residents complain about pig farm

Tempers continue to rise in Applewhaites, St George over the stench from a pig farm in the area.

And Member of Parliament for St George North, Gline Clarke, is hoping that a remedy can soon be found to deal with the offensive odour allegedly emanating from the property.

Last November Clarke had spoken to the matter and noted that it needed to be remedied. “We need to see that the Government moves swiftly on these things. That is if there are problems you go through the legal process but move on them with haste. There are a lot of problems across my constituency with people doing . . . things,” Clarke said, adding it was incumbent on the Ministry of Health and Wellness, to do something about it.

Anita Yarde, a newlywed female, said that she has been unable to invite anyone to her marital home due to the odour emanating from the pig farm.

“We still getting the smell from the pig farm. It is really awful. I cannot open my house, I cannot invite anyone at me. No one wants to come down through here with the smell. I am right below the pig farm. I does feel so awful because my family does not want to come out here because you cannot open the house. Even at nights, I have to put up a towel to keep the scent out of the house,” Yarde told Barbados TODAY, adding that persons visiting the area have started to name it.

“People have started to rename out here Mount Stinkeroo’ because out here smell so stink. Sometimes when I leave home to go work after 5 a.m. I can smell it. We cannot live like this! I am asthmatic, and I have sinuses real bad. A couple weeks ago I was on vacation. I had to go to the doctor and then get medication because the smell had my lungs actually blocked and it is real awful,” she said, adding that she would like to see the pig farm closed.

“I would like to see it closed because we cannot go on with this. At the end of the day, it means that we have to go to the doctor and then pay money for medication. Sometimes even if you go and buy over-the-counter medication it does not work,” Yarde said.

Another resident Allison Murray-Browne questioned how Town and Country Planning could permit the operation of a pig farm on tenantry land.

“Tell me how on earth Town and Country Planning could give them permission to build an entire pig farm in front of a residential area on residential land,” Murray-Browne told Barbados TODAY, adding that she cannot open her home to get fresh air.

“In such a small neighborhood [we are dealing] with two pig pens – talk about flies! I cannot open my windows to get a little air. It is overbearing and the Government is not doing anything about it. If it was in a high society area someone would have done something about it,” she said.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY owner of DL Prestige Farms, Gregory Forde, said what was being alleged about his pig farm was untrue, and added that his business was registered. This was subsequently verified at Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office as having been registered and incorporated on September 20, 2017.

Pressed to comment on suggestions that he had no permission from Town and Country Planning for the farm and that its presence was making the residents in the community ill, Forde responded: “When I am ready, I will give you full details.”