The Belle Vue Cane Farmers’ Co-op is more than a regular cooperative society

Dear Editor,

The reported plight of the Belle Vue Cane Farmers’ Cooperative Society is a source of particular concern to this writer, who has been personally involved in the formation of this society.

Once again it seems relevant to put this community of farmers in its historical context.  The grouping of 55 former estate workers was deliberately selected by Bookers Sugar Estates from across all of its locations to settle into an experimental social arrangement, which was not inappropriately named ‘Belle Vue’ – a totally new community whose pioneering residents had to be taught to be cane farmers, who would supply their canes to the Wales Factory, on the West Bank of the Demerara River.

The 55 pioneers were not only allocated fifteen acre plots of cane land, but were supported by housing for families, accommodation for kitchen gardening, and among other things, a community centre and playground.

The management of Wales Estate was mandated to provide all the required technical services, for which, in disciplined fashion, the farmers were required to pay until they became self-sufficient in managing their cultivation.

When in the mid 1960s a formal Cane Farming Development Corporation was established through joint funding by the two sugar companies – Booker’s Sugar Estates and Demerara Company, partnered by the Royal Bank of Canada (now Republic Bank) and Barclays Bank DC&O (now GBTI), the accompanying legislation, namely the National Cane Farming Committee Act (1965) required that cane farmers enter into what the regulations to the act called ‘Cane Farmers’ Contract (General Conditions) Rules which set out in detail the relationship between the ‘farmer’ and the ‘manufacturer’ (the estate).

A prerequisite for accessing loan funds for developing and/or rehabilitating their respective cultivations was that farming groups such as Belle Vue had to become registered cooperative societies, in compliance with the prevailing law.  So that along with Belle Vue, West Demerara village groups such as Free and Easy, Good Intent/Sisters, Canal No. 2 and Stanleytown/La Retraite were all registered as Cane Farmers’ Coop Societies.  The writer, as the BSE representative, was actively involved in coordinating this process, with the assistance of the authorised Cooperative Officer/s at the time.

My understanding then of the constitution as advised by the latter, and subscribed to by the members of all the societies involved, was that there was parity in shareholdings without any provision for majority shareholding, as gleaned from the complaint in SN of March 16, 2011.

Unless the relevant cooperative society law has substantially changed since, the Chief Cooperatives Development Officer is understood to have full authority to professionally address the reported complaint, and need not await the permission of any other authority.

Equally important is the requirement of the NCFC Act to have established not only a National Cane Farming Committee, but also District Associations of which relevant groupings, and individual farmers, could be members.

It is not certain whether this legal framework is currently operational, but certainly, at whatever level, it provides a non-bureaucratic mechanism for examination of the extant problem by neighbouring cooperative societies, as well as the Chief Cooperatives Development Officer.

It is therefore puzzling why there should be difficulty in resolving this organisational issue within the context of the relevant legal provisions.

Finally one would have thought that the manufacturer may also display some interest in the matter, if only from the standpoint of how expected cane supply by Belle Vue Cane Farmers’ Coop Society may affect the estate’s scheduled production.

The fact is that Belle Vue is more than just a regular cooperative society. Approximately fifty years old, this community represents a significant event in our social history.  Those who would know better should therefore set the example of respect for its heritage, and celebrate. Indeed SN and the rest of the media should join in that celebration.

Yours faithfully,
E B John