St Bess farmers burned

Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton will meet with scores of farmers at the Bigwoods Primary in St Elizabeth today, following Tuesday's bush fire which ravaged hundreds of acres of crops in the area, plunging many farmers in the country's bread basket into despair.

"I will be going down there tomorrow (today) to meet with them to see how best we can assist them," Tufton told the OBSERVER WEST yesterday.

At the same time, the agriculture minister said that he was expecting a report from the St Elizabeth branch of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) - which was dispatched to the area yesterday to assess the damage - before he meets with the farmers.

"Once we get an understanding as to the extent of the damage and we have that dialogue with the farmers then we will develop an approach as to how best we will be able to assist them," said Tufton.

The fire, which farmers alleged resulted from a ganja eradication operation by the Narcotics police, started at about three o'clock in the Bigwoods area.

Aided by strong winds and dry conditions, the fire spread rapidly to several adjoining communities including Ivor Cottage, Retreat and Retirement.

For more than 12 hours firefighters from St Elizabeth battled the blaze which was finally brought under control early yesterday.

When the OBSERVER WEST visited the Ivor Cottage area late Tuesday, farmers in the area painted a picture of gloom.
"Everything burn up: broccoli, escallion, melon, pepper, tomatoes, everything gone.... as you can see it's just the raw dirt leave," said Cameron Hutchinson.

"I lose about $10-million worth of crops," added Hutchinson, who along with his father, Wilbert, cultivates roughly seven acres of land.

Hutchinson said just last month he invested $100,000 in planting material on the farm, adding that he was hoping to reap a bumper crop of tomatoes and escallion in a few days time.

Hutchinson and his dad are among scores of farmers from the southern end of St Elizabeth who till the soil for a living in Ivor Cottage, and who are now feeling a sense of hopelessness and despair.

"Mi nuh know how wi and mi family going to manage. A dis we depend on for a living and look here everything gone," said 58-year-old Danny Nunes who has been farming in the area for the better part of his life.

The fire came at a time when the farmers were bracing for a possible 30 per cent increase in the cost of fertilisers, and a rise in other imputs next month.

"If things were rough before the fire how wi going to manage now that wi lose everything and when everything go up?" asked Ricardo Malcolm.

"Di government will have to help us get back on our feet because it is dem people (police) caused our crops fi burn down," he charged.

Meanwhile, Dr Tufton says he would be having discussions with security minister, Derrick Smith, and police commissioner, Hardley Lewin, concerning the allegation.

"The allegation is that it was a security operation which led to the fire and the destruction, so I will be talking to the commissioner of police and the security minister about it," Tufton said.

Efforts to contact Head of the Police Narcotics Division, Senior Superintendent Carlton Wilson, yesterday were unsuccessful.

But a reliable police source told the OBSERVER WEST that the narcotics police conducted a ganja eradication operation in the Bigwoods area on Tuesday.