Rambharat: The trees are diseased

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat has clarified that the trees currently being removed at the St Augustine Nurseries are diseased plants infected by the Citrus Greening disease.

“The Permanent Secretary has advised that the arrangements to remove the citrus trees were made by the Chief Technical Officer and Director Agricultural Services. These citrus trees were previously identified as being infected by the Citrus Greening disease,” Rambharat told Newsday in a WhatsApp message. He added that in 2017, the ministry had destroyed over 200,000 citrus plants because of the disease.

Earlier, former Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj sent out a media release alleging that the trees were being cleared as part of the preparations for a proposed Housing Development Corporation apartment complex on part of the land on which the nursery is located.

Agricultural activists have protested the government’s decision, claiming the soil at the nurseries is among the most fertile in the country, and that the nursery is home to the biggest and most unique collection of indigenous fruit trees in the Caribbean, several of which are the original plants from which the entire local sector is built.