On to planting tomatoes, melongene and hot peppers

...after sugarcane was a wait in vain

Ariti Jankie South Bureau

Sunday, May 4th 2008

IMMENSE acres of sugarcane fields burnt to the ground and some 500 tonnes of cane destroyed brought tears to the eyes of Sugarcane Farmers Cooperative Society president Ramdeo Ramcharan.

The sugarcane he grew on land inherited from his ancestors were as precious to him as his children. But waiting for Government to hand over the sugar mill at Usine St Madeleine to reap the crop was a wait in vain, and tragedy.

It was hard to let the sugarcane go. But left with no choice, Ramcharan took his five children into the fields with him and instead of sugarcane, they farmed 10 acres of tomatoes, melongene and hot peppers. He said that using the family tractor and working the land themselves, they managed to make a handsome living.

Encouraged by the success of the 10-acre plot, the family is considering ploughing more of the sugarcane land and expanding food crop production.

Like Ramcharan, other large sugarcane farmers have also gone into food crop production. Sunil Samaroo srecently invested $17,000 to dig a pond to provide irrigation for his crops. He has ploughed five acres of land and bought corn and pumpkin seeds.

"As soon as the rains come I will begin planting," he said. Ex-sugarcane farmers have become some of the more successful food crop producers in T&T. Many of them are growing crops for the export market.

La Savannah farmer Cecil Badrie has been cultivating 20 acres of land, growing squash, cucumber and pumpkin for export to Barbados and other countries in the region.

He also supplies export merchants with hot peppers and has also been able to sell large quantities of food crops on the local market.

The success of local farmers, if not necessarily ex-sugar cane farmers, has been noted by the Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO) which assured consumers on Thursday that "we have a wide range of local produce available." In its market watch publication, NAMDEVCO said the total volume of produce sold in the markets last week increased by 65 percent when compared to previous weeks.

National Quality Assurance Officer at NAMDEVCO, Ganesh Gangapersad, said in an interview that more land has been prepared this year for cultivation.

"Land that was lying vacant had been ploughed and more people are going back to the land," he said in an interview last week. He warned, however, that farmers need to provide information to NAMDEVCO to avoid the market being flooded with one type of produce and scarcity fo others. "Farmers need to provide NAMDEVCO with food crop information so that we can source markets before the crops are harvested," he added.

He said framers can view the NAMDEVCO website at www.namis.tt.com and register crops under cultivation along with the acreage.

"We have not been importing fruits and vegetables," he said, adding that farmers have been supplying the market with sufficient goods. He said that processed goods and staples were being imported.

Gangapersad also said that consumers were hesitating to buy and that farmers have already begun to feel the pinch. "The recent floods destroyed acres of watermelon yet there were no shortages nor price increases. People are just not spending as much as they did before," he said. President of the Cunupia Farmers Association Cooperative Society, Anil Ramnarine, said that farmers in Central have predicted that there would be a surplus of vegetables on the market by the end of the year.

"We contacted the Trinidad and Tobago Agri-Business Association (TTABA) and plan to produce crops on a contract basis with guaranteed prices," he said. He said there was urgent need for an organisation to keep track of the crops under production and advise farmers on the crops they should be investing in. "Farmers must unite in groups and pay attention to the business aspect of farming," he said.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161318297