VG farmer calls for Gov't to address water woes
The farmer who preferred not to be named told Virgin Islands News Online that his main problem is the prohibitive cost for water on the island.
“The main problem I have is the cost of water for farming. It is very high,” said the man who goes by the moniker ‘Tomato Man’ on the island.
He said it is very difficult to pay for the water to irrigate his two-acre farm on which he grows tomatoes, pumpkin and other produce.
Asked how he is able to survive given the tough conditions, he said, “Well I would take my stuff and sell on the streets and by that I pay bills and I might get a little thing to eat but not much...nothing much.”
He said that he has five persons dependent on him with a wife and four children and it is difficult to put food on the table. “Sometimes it could be really hard but I'm just surviving,” he said.
The man said that while he is not a member of any group that speaks on behalf of the farmers in Virgin Gorda, he is hoping that the authorities do something to alleviate the pressure these farmers face.
“I don't really know of any such group. All I know is that I'm doing farming for years now and I support agriculture week by coming here,” he told Virgin Islands News Online on the sidelines of the launch of agriculture week activities on the island of Virgin Gorda yesterday February 13, 2014.
The elderly man said he is trying to acquire more land from the authorities to expand with a view to earning more but this is proving difficult.
“I asked the government...I wrote into the government a few years ago asking for about three acres of land to plant trees and so on but up to now I have not received any response," the man said. “You are the first person to come and ask me anything about how I doing,” he told this reporter.
This news site brought this matter to the attention of Chief Agricultural Officer Bevin Braithwaithe who said that he could not speak at the time of the call and promised to return the call. Up to post time he did not return the call to this news site.
However Linette Rabsatt, acting Human Resources Manager in the Department of Agriculture in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour, while speaking at Anegada’s launch of agriculture week of activities on Monday February 10, 2014, said the issue of water was one plaguing farmers on Anegada as well as on Jost van Dyke.
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