Chief Agricultural Officer (CAO) Bevin Brathwaite. Photo: VINO

The Department of agriculture reportedly still provides assistance to farmers throughout the Territory, however, one of the criteria is that they have to be a "BVIslander". Photo: VINO.

When asked by the member for the third district Honorable Julian Fraser RA, whether the Department of agriculture still provided assistance to farmers and what kind of assistance they received, the CAO stated that the programme still existed and served farmers throughout the Territory .

However, he told the SFC that the funds were reduced in the budget in recent times, but they continue to assist the farmers the “best way they could”.

Mr. Brathwaite further stated that after an application for government assistance to farmers is submitted, due research would be done before disbursement is made. He stated that the assistance depended on the needs of the farmers and that the Department of Agriculture provided fencing materials, agricultural supplies, construction materials, irrigation, ground covering, housing for livestock and clearance of land by way of excavation. Mr. Brathwaite also told members that the programme was not a complicated process.

BVIslanders only Please!

When asked by Honorable Julian Fraser RA, whether there were criteria to gain assistance, the CAO replied that, “there is no age limit, but the farmers had to be BVIslanders and registered with the department, must have proof of property under their control, which would be verified before assistance was granted.”

Meanwhile, the issue of loose livestock on the public roads was a concern for Members of the SFC. The CAO said that there is a loose livestock programme only on Tortola because there are no funds to extend it to the Sister Islands.

He said the programme on Tortola existed whereby they collected loose livestock from private and public places, slaughtered them, and based on proper representation and identification from farmers they would be paid from the funds collected from the sale with the exclusion of the capture fee.

The member for the third district asked whether it was possible to place the loose livestock on an uninhabited island? In response the CAO stated that, “they never consider transferring the loose livestock to one of the keys” but they would prefer to see the animals moved from Paraquita Bay since they did not have sufficient space.

The CAO told the House of Assembly select committee that his department had forty (40) acres of land at Paraquita Bay under their control, with the majority used for livestock with the exception of five to six acres which are used for crops and eleven acres for the greenhouses.