A group of Berbice cattle farmers are ready to approach the courts, as they feel they are being unfairly removed from their farming lands by the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA).
At a meeting held at the office of former attorney General Anil Nandlall, the seven farmers, who collectively have about 600 cattle, stated that they feel like they’re being taken advantage of by the MMA-ADA.
According to Nandlall, the MMA-ADA has had a long battle with rice farmers, who have had cause to approach the courts to challenge the revocation of their leases. Nandlall stated that the authority has now turned its attention to cattle farmers. “They occupy a portion of land at a place called Rampoor, which is at the back of Blairmont. They have been in communal occupation of a large expanse of land for over 25 to 30 years. Over the years, they have developed these lands, they have maintained the lands and these are the lands they use as pastures and accommodation for their cattle,” Nandlall stated. The land is approximately 1,360 acres.
The attorney said that after 30 years of occupying the lands, the farmers received notice from the MMA-ADA that they must vacate. “The lands are likely to be allocated to identified individuals who have just a few cattle. Some of them do not have any cattle at all,” he said. Nandlall added that the farmers, during their years of occupying the lands, had made numerous applications to be issued with leases. However, leases were given to persons who have had no connection or occupational history with the lands.
“… More so, to take lands from people who have been in occupation and who have maintained and kept these lands for all these years, to eject them now from these lands is absolutely unfair and must be unlawful,” Nandlall added.
One of the farmers, Pooran Bal Mukund, who has been a cattle farmer for 35 years, stated that he has been on the land for over 20 years and they have just been served a notice to remove from it. “MMA just serve us a notice to remove from the land. They serve us two notice. They also give us a paper to do cattle grazing, permission to graze cattle. When we went at MMA, the paper aint had no value, they told us the document aint got no value anymore,” Bal Mukund said. The farmer stated that the authority had brought persons who do not reside in the village and gave them the land that they occupy.
All of the farmers in the meeting had come with the letters they were given as permission to graze cattle, the notices they were served, and the receipts that they received after applying for leases to the land.
According to another farmer, Khrishna Sookdeo, he too has occupied the land for more than 20 years and had maintained the land, along with his colleagues. In the meeting, members of the media were shown the receipts that he received after applying for a lease to the land. “I apply for lease and when you go to MMA, they gon tell you no, you nah make application and I always walk with my receipt,” Sookdeo said.
One of the first notices, which the farmers received in January of 2019, stated that they should vacate the land because it is owned by the State and that they will be prosecuted if they remain on the land. The most recent letter, dated May 14, 2019, stated that they must vacate the land by May 20.
“It must affect our livelihood. We depend on milk, we depend on animals— that’s the work we’re doing for our livelihood, that’s the work all of us depend pon— milk cow and sell, cattle rearing. No other job we aint know,” said Khrishinchand David.
Nandlall later added, “MMA is an agency or authority set up to facilitate farmers, to assist farmers, not to hang them out. All MMA has been doing over the past four years is to oust rice farmers from their lands, raise the rates and irrigation fees beyond the financial capabilities of the rice farmers, now they gone behind the cattle farmers,” he said.
Some of the farmers believe that the situation is politically motivated. “My opinion, it’s a political issue because the same ones that they give the land, they get higher one in the authority, so they know which link to jump on, because we are poor men, we don’t know what to do,” Bal Mukund said.
“They supposed to give abee first option because abee deh on the land for suh long, watch how long abee deh pon the land. Now they gon take out abee from the land and bring somebody else. They just push round we all de time, from since January to now,” said Moonesar Samaroo.
The farmers stated that they are just looking to have regularised leases to make their livelihood, and that they would be grateful if they would even be granted a portion of the land to continue their farming. “If we get half of the land we can live with it but we are not coming out from there, we are not moving, we aint get nowhere to go, we are not moving. We are not coming out from there,” Bal Mukund added.
Nandlall, along with the farmers, stated that they are ready to approach the courts with the issue.
