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Farmers on the Move has no faith in new Gov’t

January 27th, 2012 | Tags: Farmer's Week Khoy Smith Farmers on the Move Faith
The annual Farmers' Week celebrations to be held from February 10 to 17, will be without the participation of Farmers' on the Move. Photo: VINO
President of Farmers' on the Move, Khoy Smith. Photo: VINO
President of Farmers' on the Move, Khoy Smith. Photo: VINO
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI- Noting that Government, whether VIP or NDP, has not been fair to local farmers, President of Farmers on the Move, Khoy Smith says the group has decided against participating in the upcoming Farmer’s Week activities and instead will be concentrating on having their own activities which would truly promote agriculture and farmers.

According to Smith, Farmers should be recognised and supported all year round and not only when Farmers’ Week comes around, noting that in the past farmers participated but were not paid until the next year’s activities while incurring losses by having to reduce prices for products.

Asked whether he needed to give the new Government a chance to see what their stance is in Agriculture and local farmers, Mr. Smith, who ran as an At Large Candidate with the People’s Patriotic Party at the November 2011 General Elections, said there is no new Government as it was in power before and their policy then on farming was also not in the best interest of Agriculture and local farmers.

“It’s the same NDP, save for a few new members but there is no new administration. They know the issues and if they were serious they would have already met with us to discuss our concerns. We have not even receive a formal invitation for Farmers’ Week.”

The annual Farmers' Week celebrations, hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour and the Department of Agriculture, will be held from February 10 to 17, 2012 under the theme ‘Celebrating 20 Years of BVI Culture through Agriculture'.

But according to Smith, Farmers’ Week does not give a true representation of what agriculture should be in the Virgin Islands and since its inception in 2007, Farmers on the Move had given itself a mandate to correct that, noting that the week of activities should be more than just an exhibition and sale but should also include seminars and lobbying for support from Government and other stakeholders.

The President of Farmers on the Move noted, however, that a date has not yet been set for its own week of activities.

Efforts to get a comment from officials from the Department of Agriculture proved futile.

5 Responses to “Farmers on the Move has no faith in new Gov’t”

  • Crank Shaft (27/01/2012, 09:27) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Schuups! Anybody following Khoy and Edmund need a hot hard slap! Selfish, self serving! They make me ashamed to be a BVISLANDER! If Khoy is so brilliant why doesn't he put forward his plan to a private investor or investment club? He is just sickening now!!! If he doesn't participate, Government should exclude him for ALL farmer subsidies in the future. Just because he didn't get his million dollars of our money he vex! Go sit down LOL!!
  • Edmund (27/01/2012, 09:28) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    deeds damm farmers
  • Confucius (27/01/2012, 11:23) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Mr. Smith, as I understand it, the crux of your beef with government is that firstly, they didn’t “officially” invite “farmers on the move” to take part in the upcoming farmer’s week celebration and that in actuality, you are really only interested in holding meetings with government ~ the focus of which would be to lobby government for financial support. Whilst it is true that other countries often subsidize farmers, they generally do so based on government’s terms for those products and crops that government deems necessary to benefit all the people. When seeking money from government, the farmers do not get to dictate to the people what they want from us but rather, what we want from them ~ in return for a subsidy. If you were to go to a bank for a loan, you would have to provide a solid business proposal and you must have the information required to prove that your business proposal represents is a minimal risk of failure. The bank wants to be sure you can pay their money back on time every month. You need a credit rating (both personally and for your business), cash flow projections, capital expenditures required for start up, amortization schedules, staffing costs, etc. So far, all I have heard is some ramblings about wanting to re-start a previously failed or failing chicken farm that someone is interested in re-starting. I have also heard that some farmers are totally against the greenhouse project. So get your act together, put together a sensible business plan with projected costs, capital injection requirements, cash flow projections, a budget, etc. and approach government with your proposal. If they turn you down and if you truly believe in the plan, look for partners. If you can’t find any partners, revise your plan, scale it back and start it up on your own. There is no shame in starting small. Many very large companies started off very small and ended up very big as a result of hard work and excellent management. You don’t need the government to hand you money if your plan is viable. I also urge all farmers to get over themselves and support the green house project. It is a really interesting project and is very much needed in our little territory. You can work hand in hand with government on this project and reap many benefits from it if you would just open your eyes and use the brains God gave you. THINK! How can YOUR business benefit from these greenhouses? There are many ways if you would just use your heads and work WITH government instead of against them. It’s a sure bet that someone else will if you don’t! If you let this opportunity pass you by, you will have only yourselves to blame.
  • time time (27/01/2012, 12:32) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    ha ha its not only the farmers with no confiendece in NDP, it's a lot of us...time will tell all.


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