Sookoo hopes for moratorium for farmers

Agricultural Society of TT (ASTT) president Dhano Sookoo is optimistic that farmers who were affected by last weekend’s devastating floods would be given a five-month moratorium by their financial institutions.

In an urgent notice posted on the ASTT’s Facebook page yesterday, farmers with loans at the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) were told to contact their loans officers to discuss the impact of the floods and their ability to repay loans on time.

In a phone interview, Sookoo said the agricultural sector had been severely affected by the floods, which had submerged entire communities in east and central Trinidad.

“People are failing to understand that the agriculture sector was most hard-hit, so we put that posting because what we are doing, we already had discussions with the ADB to see if they can reschedule the payment of farmers, give them an extended moratorium and probably do some refinancing with no administrative cost attached."