Agri Dept heads & Minister blasted for Farmers’ Week failure
There has also been a call for the removal of Chief Agricultural Officer (CAO) Mr Bevin Brathwaite and Deputy Chief Agricultural Officer Mrs Arona Fahie-Forbes from those offices as they are allegedly ‘sour grapes’ sitting at the head.
This news site spoke with several farmers who said they were too frustrated to participate in the Farmers’ Week activities this years because they feel that they are being disrespected and shabbily handled. But while others were not bold enough to come forward to go on record, prominent farmer Ms Moviene F. Fahie was quite the opposite.
“The Chief Agricultural Officer has his favourite farmers who he is interested in, who he likes and who he hates. But I think we need to stop that kind of behaviour in the BVI because when you continue with this kind of behaviour it’s going to destroy the country,” said farmer Moviene F. Fahie in an exclusive interview with this news site.
“I don’t see why a person should hate a person for doing good. You should be encouraging me to do more and to teach the young people… that Department needs a lot of guidance, it needs the right people and once you don’t get the right leader for that ship it’s going to get worse,” she added.
“In the past we use to look forward to seeing the farmers having a great time together but since Mr Qwomar leave that office there hasn’t been proper leadership. When you don’t have a good captain for a ship you end up on the reef and right now the guy who they have there, he is not a person that is fit for the job right now,” she said.
She said that agriculture is not being taken in the very serious manner that it really should and as a prominent farmer in the territory the state of affairs is very embarrassing. “With all the money you have without food you can’t live, you must have food to live and with your farmers being frustrated and the industry going down it’s a very serious situation.”
Ms Fahie stressed the importance for the Virgin Islands to be very self-sufficient, which she firmly believes is very possible.
“The government needs to put a step in it to encourage the young farmers, encourage the older farmers. Most of the older folks have died out, my mother was a doctor in agriculture and I loved it from a child and I would love to see we go back to being a farming community.”
She said the Territory has the capacity to feed itself if the industry is properly managed. “We only talking about greenhouse, greenhouse. While it is good it is not set up in the right way for this hot climate.”
She noted that one of the reasons for the spiraling cases of cancer patients is because of the large number of chemical foods that is being consumed in the Territory.
We are Kunta Kinte again
On a local radio programme aired yesterday February 1, 2015 as recorded at the second day of the Farmers’ Week exhibition, one farmer was very candid in his deep hurt for the manner they allegedly continue to be disrespected as farmers.
The man said that it is time farmers stand up to the relevant authorities and demand better treatment. “Farmers should take a stand and use their constitutional rights, where we are tax exempt, to make us demand the respect as farmers representing our position in our country."
The farmer’s main grievance was his alleging that the dates for the Farmers’ Week activities was changed at short notice mainly to suit the whims and fancies of the Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering who he alleged did so to accommodate his traveling schedule.
“He can’t violate the people like this saying that he has to travel and everything got to get off-set to suit one man, thousands got to get-off set to suit one individual, that just aint right or fair and it’s too ugly,” said the farmer.
“This is a total disrespect by the National Democratic Party (NDP) government because I understand that [Myron V.] Walwyn (Min for Education and Culture) tried to do the same thing with the August festivities and these traditions are older than any of us… so if the leaders are disrespecting this why should the people respect the ‘misleaders’?” the farmer rhetorically asked.
“We are hurt because we are disrespected as a people, we travelled a long journey to reach here, and then we must just have our misleaders just putting their foot on us because they think they are above we and I want something to be done to correct these ministers because they can’t just keep doing this and no kind of rule to put them in order,” added the perturbed farmer.
“….they think they could trample on we, we is Kunta Kinte again,” he stated.
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By the way, Farmers Week was like a best kept secret. No advertising, no reminders nothing. I happen to hear a taxi driver mention it.