The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

New Providence farmers are seeking a $60 million government subsidy to help their operations recover from “the heart-wrenching double whammy” of Hurricane Matthew and contaminated feed.

Caron Shepherd, president of the newly-formed Farmers United Association (FUA), told Tribune Business yesterday that such an investment was essential if the island’s agriculture industry was to rebound from events that almost wiped-out many farmers’ crops and livestock.

The FUA, which says it has between 60-100 members, submitted its proposal to V. Alfred Gray, minister of agriculture and marine resources, when it met with him on Monday.

Ms Shepherd said the meeting was designed to alert Mr Gray to the “urgency” of the farmers’ plight and need for help, but the Minister indicated that the $60 million proposal was a “long-term” vision that required Cabinet approval.

Emphasising that New Providence farmers required assistance “now”, Ms Shepherd said the ‘voucher’ assistance offered by Mr Gray during the meeting would likely be well short of what was required to replenish farmers’ crops and livestock.

The FUA’s March 27, 2017, letter to Mr Gray, which has been seen by Tribune Business, requested government financial assistance amounting to $30,000 per acre of farm land.

Estimating that there were around 2,000 acres of land on New Providence currently being used for agriculture, the FUA said this equated to a total $60 million subsidy.

When asked by Tribune Business to justify the FUA’s $60 million request, and why farmers should receive ‘special treatment’ to that extent, especially given the Government’s strained fiscal position, Ms Shepherd suggested redeploying funds said to have been earmarked for BAMSI.

She also argued that the Bahamas could not afford to ignore its farmers, given the need to enhance this nation’s food security and reduce a near-$1 billion annual import bill that continues to reduce foreign exchange earnings.

“I’ll tell you this,” Ms Shepherd told Tribune Business. “They [the Government] took $20 million and sent it to BAMSI (the Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Science Institute).

“They’re now planning to put another lump sum into BAMSI’s hands. They initially said they’re doing it with $20 million, but circulating in the air is a proposal to send $40 million to BAMSI.”

That figure could not be confirmed by Tribune Business before press time last night, but Ms Shepherd suggested: “That $40 million could come to assist the farmers and let them produce what we need to produce to grow.

“They want to pump everything into BAMSI. But every country in the world assists farmers because they know food is the lifeblood of a country. Thirty thousand per acre sounds like a lot, but when you start to break it down, with the work you have to do to get produce to market, that’s a minimal sum.”

FUA’s letter to Mr Gray argued that the $60 million, which its described as a “comfortable number” based on its research, would pale in comparison to the impact if ever international trade and transportation routes to the Bahamas were ever cut off.

“A minimum of $30,000 per acre to each farm would enable each farmer to hold their head high and look toward the horizon to better days ahead,” the FUA said.

“The restoration of his or her farm would set them on a path of sustainability and feeding our nation.

“We realise this has never be done before, but sir, we please ask you to evoke your Government to assist the farmers in their time of need.”

Ms Shepherd said New Providence farmers were still trying to remove salt contamination from the soil, caused by Hurricane Matthew’s four-foot storm surge into the Cowpen Road area in early October.

She added that substantial funding was required for farmers to purchase, and plant, new crops and seedlings, in addition to acquiring pigs, goats and sheep.

The FUA president, who is also operations manager at Down Too Earth Adventure Farm, said the industry also needed to repair its physical infrastructure, including cages, wire fences and farmhouses damaged by Matthew.

“We have 21 cages here,” Ms Shepherd said of her farm, “and are only using seven. The other 14 cages had their roofs blown off, and have not been repaired.”

And, with New Providence farmers still reeling from Hurricane Matthew’s impact, the FUA president said they were then hit by a “double whammy”- the allegedly contaminated corn and animal feed from the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation’s (BAIC) Gladstone Road Feed Mill.

“The balance of the animals left from Hurricane Matthew; things came around and we had contaminated feed,” Ms Shepherd told Tribune Business.

“We tried to save them. The [government] people in Agriculture don’t understand the urgency in farming; everything is perishable. The longer it takes to deal with it, the quicker it dies.”

Mr Gray previously suggested it had not been proven that contaminated feed was the cause of widespread livestock deaths, with a sample having been sent off for testing.

The results have yet to be disclosed, but Ms Shepherd said she had little doubt that the contaminated feed resulted from ingredients being left on the dock too long, where the heat and moisture resulted in them going bad.

“We lost quite a number of animals at our farm,” she explained. “We lost at least a dozen pigs. I know another farmer had 30 pigs that died. All the farmers that had livestock on it were affected by the feed.

“A lot of the animals actually died directly from Matthew, as the water came up four feet high. We had to burn the livestock that died, and right now the farmers are trying to regroup. It’s heart-wrenching to see what is going on.”

Ms Shepherd said FUA and is members met with Mr Gray to impress upon him the dire economic and operational conditions faced by many New Providence farmers, and the urgent need to provide them with financial assistance.

“He’s receptive, and understood the proposal we’ve set forth,” Ms Shepherd said of the $60 million request, “but he’s saying that’s something he’d like to do long-term.

“We are looking to get assistance now. Those farmers need help now. He’s talking about giving them vouchers, and said we should be getting vouchers in two to three weeks, but we have yet to find out how much these will be for, and when we will get them. It’s six months now [since Hurricane Matthew], and we’ve not gotten anything.

“We’re not trying to force his hand, but are trying to get him to really appreciate that these farmers are in desperate need of assistance, and need it now.”

Ms Shepherd said Family Island farmers impacted by Hurricane Joaquin had only received ‘voucher’ assistance in 2016, that storm striking in 2015.

She added that she saw cattle wire and animal feed, destined for Long Island as Joaquin relief, at the Gladstone Road Agricultural Centre as recently as last month.

Emphasising that New Providence’s farmers could not afford to wait that long, Ms Shepherd said the ‘voucher’ sums offered by the Government will likely be insufficient to address all their needs.

She added that traditional private sector financing, such as bank loans, were largely not available to Bahamian farmers because they tended to lease their land. As a result, in the eyes of bankers they lack sufficient collateral against which credit can be secured.

FUA’s plea, in addition to highlighting food security, again raises the question of whether the Bahamas is prepared to support a domestic agriculture industry beyond BAMSI, with the sector currently contributing just 1-2 per cent of GDP.

It also comes at a time when health concerns related to a meat packing corruption scandal in Brazil have resulted in the Ministry of Agriculture banning all Brazilian meat imports for 60 days.