Coop plan coming for former Caroni workers: Bharath

The government of Trinidad and Tobago is moving to establish large scale coop farms on lands that were formely used for sugar cane colultivation.

When former Prime Minister Patrick manning closed the sugar company he promised two-acre plots to former sugar workers but only handed over a few plots.

On Wednesday Agriculture Minister Vasant Bharath told reporters Government will amalgamate the two-acre plots to develop large scale technology-based food crop farming. He added that it is not feasible for farmers to plant on two acres of land because it is not large enough for large-scale agriculture.

He said the plan is to form co-operatives. “That way we can have 50 to 100 acres of land used for a standard crop. This will make it feasible for us to put technology in the farms,” he said.

The coop idea was first suggested decades ago by a special committee headed by the late Frank Rampersad, who was chiarman of Caroni (1975) Limited.

The recommendation was to develop coops of large acreages for food crop farming and have sugar workers own the lands. But then Prime Minister Eric Williams turned down the recommendation because he felt that the lands should not be owned by the workers.

Bharath noted that small farmers have no choice but to abandon their lands because they face immense problems including the high cost of chemicals and fertilisers and praedial larceny.

“A lot of the farmers got lands far away from their homes so when they plant the crops and it is harvest time you would find that as soon as they turn their backs, people steal their crops.” He said government would unveil plans on Thursday for dealing with the larceny problem.

Bharath also spoke about flooding. He said officials are making an assessment and the matter of compensation would be addressed with a sense of urgency. He reminded reporters that following the last floods Government paid $13 million to 1,871 farmers.

He said there is still flooding in the fields. “It is difficult while there is water in the fields to make flood assessments. We have to wait until it subsides before we make a decision, he said. However he promised that all legitimate claims will be paid.