Farmers blast BAS, Government and announce plans to start new organisation to fight their causes

Fed up with what they describe as Government’s continued disrespect towards them and the failure of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) to lobby on their behalf, more than two dozen vegetable and produce farmers have decided to form their own organisation to fight their own battles.

That was the unanimous decision taken by the group following an over two-hour meeting at the Wildey Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.

The disgruntled farmers who work with the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) met to discuss several of the major issues plaguing them, including a 200 per cent increase in water bills as well as the rising cost of other farming inputs.

One of the spokespersons for the group, Arrindel Evelyn, who has been farming for over three decades, complained that the sector had gotten very little assistance from Government.

“If we must have any strength we have to come together and we have to form a united group that can stand the test of time,” said Evelyn who was among farmers from Gibbons Boggs, Christ Church who won a 15-year legal battle against Shell oil company after it allowed aviation fuel to leak onto their lands.

“If the Ministry of Agriculture had to close down, most farmers would not even be aware that it closed down. If the BADMC closed down, the only reason we would know it closed down is because we use their water. If the BAS closed down, we wouldn’t even know that BAS closed down.

“We have actually been fighting, we’ve been living, we’ve been persisting, we’ve been existing without any of these organisations, and I am saying that if we could do it as individuals without the input of the organisations, Government bodies that are set up to help us, we can do it together,” Evelyn said to resounding applause.

However, chief executive officer of the BAS James Paul, who was in attendance, expressed his disappointment that the farmers did not appreciate his organisation’s role in lobbying on their behalf.

Paul maintained that the BAS had never stopped representing farmers and would continue to do so.

Evelyn insisted, however, that there was a need for a farmers’ organisation because it appeared as though the agricultural sector “was going backwards”.

“Forty years ago…this country was exporting thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of pounds of yams to Europe, to Britain especially. They had a problem and they put a few million dollars into research and we were able to come up with a virus-free yam. Forty years after, we are importing yams from St Vincent,” he lamented.

“About 30-something years ago, we were exporting vegetables by the plane loads to England, Canada and some other European countries. What are we exporting now? We’re importing everything, so this is my peeve against Government, my peeve against BAS, my peeve against everybody. You all have not carried us anywhere, we are going backward and this is why we need a group like this.”

Another spokesperson for the group, Winston Alexander, said it appeared as though Government was trying to “push farmers to their death”.

An arrangement that existed for about five decades, under which BADMC extracted water from wells it controls and sold to farmers at a rate of 66 cents per cubic metre (per 200 gallons), came to an end on April 30. From May 1, farmers were given a special $1.80 per cubic metre rate, which was a significant decrease for those paying residential rates but an increase for those who were accessing water from the BADMC.

When she announced the new rate in her Budget speech in March, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the new rate was “absolutely affordable when we consider that the household rate for the first eight cubic metres is $2.48 per cubic metre”.

“The truth is that there are some farmers who have been paying less – not many, not the majority, but they pay as a result of accessing water from BADMC when it is available but, equally, it is not always available. And regrettably, there has been a build-up of arrears on that scheme even though the rate at that scheme has been 66 cents for 220 gallons of water and that rate has been in place from the early 1970s. That is unsustainable,” she had said.

However, Alexander said the increase would be a nail in the coffin for some farmers, coupled with the fact that the cost of fertilizer had more than doubled, from $90 to $190.

Another farmer, Carl Jessamy complained that despite the agriculture sector proving its importance during the COVID-19 pandemic, very little had been done to assist key players.

He said the disrespect towards them was evident as they had not even been consulted regarding the abolition of the lower water rate.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Nurse called on Government to give farmers an ease by writing off high water arrears.

He said some farmers had bills totalling over $25 000 dating back to the 1990s. randybennett@barbadostoday.bb