Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul has joined the call for Barbadians to stop buying peeled sugarcane from wayside vendors.
At a press conference on Thursday at the BAS’ Grotto offices on Beckles Road, St Michael, Paul noted the complaints of Chairman of the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited (BSIL) Patrick Bethel who this week expressed his frustration with persons stealing his sugarcane. Bethel also cautioned the public that it is wrong to purchase the cane from the vendors who got them by stealing.
“Bethel at Friendship Plantation is one that is brave enough to come out and speak. You can see clearly that Mr Bethel is clearly frustrated over this and it has nothing to do with whether you are white, black, pink or yellow. Nobody has the right to go and do this and we continue to ignore it.
“We are continuing to ignore these things in our society. I am appealing to the authorities and I am appealing to Barbadians to please not purchase cane on the highway from these people because clearly, they have no cane ground,” he said.
Paul said Barbadians need to get serious and stop supporting thieves who are boldly selling the stolen cane.
“I think that if we as Barbadians are serious about food security and supporting our farmers in every way, how can we then reward those persons who go on the highway with stolen produce and buy it from them. We are aiding and abetting the crime. And I really think that it is time we stop it.
“I am making a call to Barbadians to stop purchasing canes from those persons on the highway. Clearly, those persons do not have a canefield, they cannot show that they came into possession of those canes by any legal means, and it needs to stop. We cannot be hypocrites in this country, saying to farmers to plant crops and at the same time, encouraging people to go on those farmers’ lands and steal the crops,” he said.
The BAS chief said that it has been a while since he has been calling for officers at the Markets Division to get up out of their “air-conditioned offices” and ask wayside vendors questions regarding their operations, particularly how they have been sourcing their produce.
He said, persons must not be allowed to sell produce without having to answer to the authorities. Paul stressed that some of the people who are on the highway selling the cane would refuse an opportunity to go and work on some of the same plantations.
“We have this poor black man thing where we excuse people’s actions, but by the time we want to touch him, they s’give the poor fella a chance, it is just a few fields of cane’. But we don’t understand that in some cases people have lost acres as a result of this practice. I think this situation has to be rectified.
“Putting in place the legislation alone is not going to make it happen. We have to meet people where they are at and that is on the highway selling stolen produce. We need to do something about it.
“I am not against people engaging in work that is legal. But when you are going to the point when you are stealing and being brazen and going on the highway selling and then we as Barbadians going out there and supporting those thieves, I think something is wrong. This is not fair to farmers who have made that type of investment for sometimes over two years to get a crop where it is supposed to be and then to see it go like that,” he said.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb
