Agriculture ministry to reach out to Penal pig farmer

AGRICULTURE Minister Clarence Rambharat said ministry officials will be reaching out to Penal pig farmer Curtis Ramsawak who has had to sell his pigs owing to a lack of water.

In a Newsday article yesterday, it was reported that Ramsawak, 60, of Wilson Road, who has been rearing pigs for the past eight years, had to sell off his prized drove of pigs and close down his business because of the water supply situation.

Rambharat commented on the issue to the media yesterday after the opening of Parliament’s new session.

“Well you know the challenges are always going to be varied. In the dry season you have problems accessing water. In the wet season you have too much water.

“In his case, we have had an extremely long and extended dry season.

“And I could say for certainty, that farmer may not have – unless it is private land, he may not have tenure on the land that he is on. So he may not have invested in his own on-farm water supply.

“He may be afraid of WASA and the way they deal with people who collect and abstract water and so on. So it is something that we will look at.”

Rambharat said he asked ministry officials in the area to look into the issue.

He said in his ministry there is always something that will make the news and he noted the recent robbery of cassava farmer Dexter Nicholls from Cumuto.

Rambharat said he is extremely familiar with the project and he is happy to have them in the farmers’ market.

“They produce about 400,000 pounds of packaged cassava every year. They supply in the restaurant trade, they supply in the farmers’ market, and among the equipment stolen was equipment to produce cassava fries.”

He said he spoke with Nicholls yesterday morning and the police are doing their work.

“But it is really difficult for him–he has faced three robberies on the farm and also faced one at his personal residence. And...I continue to encourage the police to do what they can do in relation to protecting our farming community.

“People know that you have valuable equipment, that you have people out in the fields and you have people transporting cash and so on. And it is really something that I am concerned about.”