Dear Editor,
I noted the Ministry of Agriculture’s recent seizure of backtrack Agrichemicals in last Saturday’s Stabroek News with a deep sense of expectation.
I write this letter to congratulate the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and his officers for this operation that was timely but long overdue and which should be done frequently.
I also take the opportunity to advise that these operations should be more robust and sustained throughout the Agriculture belt where backtrack chemicals account for 53% of the market share in ‘Agri-chemicals’ sales. These products are often not safely packaged or properly labelled in English.
Sir, it is grossly unfair to pressure the legitimate businesses to pay 3% of the overall cost of its imports to the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board (PTCCB) while the backtrackers continue to operate with relative freedom and contribute nothing to the Government’s coffers to aid in national development. These backtrack smugglers pay no income tax.
Sir, there is the need for a well-trained and equipped unit within the PTCCB charged with the responsibility to go after those involved in importing, transporting, storing, selling and using backtrack pesticides and toxic chemicals.
The present structure and composition of the PTCCB rendered this body impotent to effectively carry out these functions.
Such a specialised unit will enable the Board to have sound information gathering and intelligence on the movers and shapers of this underground economy and at the same time develop appropriate strategies to counter this trade.
Finally, how can this body continue to pressure the legitimate chemicals dealers for compliance with its sometimes harsh and needless regulations and requirements, when the `backtrack’ business continues to ‘Dance in the Rain” with relative freedom? The Pesticides Board is bureaucratic, unreasonable and requires unnecessary data on well-established chemicals.
Sir, we sincerely hope that this recent exercise was not the case of the state propaganda machine being at it again. After all we are in silly season, its election time again.
Yours faithfully,
L.H. Semple
West Berbice
Farmers Committee
