Plant the land or lose it Ex-sugar workers told: Ariti Jankie South Bureau Tuesday, May 13th 2008

 

Former workers of Caroni (1975) Limited who fail to cultivate the two-acre plots distributed by Government as part of their Voluntary Separation of Employment Programme (VSEP), will lose the land. Agriculture Minister Arnold Piggott said the leases were given with an understanding that agricultural production would begin within a specified time-frame and at all times, 75 per cent of the land must be used for agricultural purposes. "Failure to comply with these requirements can result in the land reverting to the State," he said. Piggott said the conditions were imposed to ensure that the agricultural land did not remain fallow or put to other purposes than that which it was intended by the Government. "I wish to assure that such action by the Government may only become necessary to ensure that the land will be used for the intended purpose-farming," he said, adding that the objective was to ensure food and nutrition security while reducing any adverse effects of the current global situation of rising food prices. Speaking at a ceremony for the distribution of agricultural leases at the Visitor Centre on San Fernando Hill at the weekend, he said leases for 7,800 two-acre parcels would be distributed within the next few weeks. He handed over 88 leases to begin the process of distributing legal paperwork on the promised land. Piggott said infrastructural development will continue apace alongside the allocation of land, in keeping with the holistic vision by Government for the continued development and promotion of the agricultural sector. He said $931 million was allocated in the national budget to the agricultural sector, almost double the $539 million allocated five years ago. Piggott said the leases facilitated access to a wide and growing range of resources and incentives for farming. "In addition, it allows access to considerable funding available under the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB)," he said, adding the ADB's allocation for loans to farmers increased by $45 million from previous years to $ 75 million this year. He also dismissed "misinformation" suggesting that Government was focusing solely on large commercial farms, adding that "small farmers have done yeoman service over the years and have been the backbone and core of the agricultural sector".

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