‘Is there a future in cane?’

BARRACKPORE cane farmers are calling on Government to make clear its policy on the future viability of cane farming in Trinidad and Tobago. The farmers voiced their concerns during Tuesday’s Penal/Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) statutory meeting, which took the form of a public forum at the Barrackpore Regional Complex. Palmiste councillor Premnath Boodoosingh told Newsday that farmers wanted to plan their lives for the future and “needed to know what Government has in store for them.”  

Boodoosingh claimed several attempts by farmers to meet with Minister of Agriculture Jarrette Narine, had failed. “We are still waiting for that meeting with the minister. We have tried over the past few months to arrange it but to no avail. I don’t know what is the keep back and we need to relay information to the farmers,” Boodoosingh lamented. He added that concerns raised by the farmers included lack of agricultural access roads, insufficient funds for cocoa and cane farmers and lack of water for the irrigation of crops. The corporation’s councillors voiced their support at the meeting for the building of manufacturing industries “around” the production of sugar cane, to ensure sustainability of the livelihood of the people in cane farming districts of Barrackpore. The farmers also requested that the PDRC implement measures for broad-based agricultural programmes and projects.