Plastic tomatoes

WAYNE KUBLALSINGH

TOMATOES ARE not supposed to be plastic. So said my grandmother. Why the tomatoes so hard? Why they staying out so long without getting rotten? Why they lose their taste? Inside is just seed, hard, no juice. Long time we had damadoes, the little red juicy tomatoes, to make tomato choka. Damadoes ki choka. Smelling, tasting like tomatoes. That gone! Vagabonds!

On December 2, Justice Robin Mohammed ruled that the Environmental Management Authority had erred in its decision to award the Housing Development Corporation with a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) without the requirement of an environmental impact assessment.

Cabinet, by Minute No 1376, dated August 3, 2017, had agreed to transfer a segment of the St Augustine Nurseries to the HDC to build a housing complex of 12 eight-storey buildings. The 17.4 acres of farmland runs alongside the Curepe Main Road for approximately 542 yards, and encroaches into the nurseries for 155 yards. On September 14, 2018, the EMA awarded the CEC to the HDC. The case against the EMA – Wayne Kublalsingh and Shiraz Khan vs the EMA – was filed on December 14, 2018.

Mohammed’s careful, precise and lucid ruling has given our nation a reprieve. It is a signal for us to recalibrate; examine the quality of the food and nutrition we bring to our table on a daily basis. To bring back not simply affordable, readily available and plenteous food to our table, but healthy, nutritious and tasty foods that are chemical and pesticide compliant.

I have long been eyeing the St Augustine Nurseries. It is located centrally along the east-west corridor. It should form the basis of a horticultural revolution, urban renewal, hunger alleviation, in a nation sadly diminished by the trade and marketing of unhealthy food.

A horticultural revolution, led by government, consists of the following:

A. The development of a leadership team to work with a corps of communities, skilled and experienced NGOs, and experts in the field, for using selected sites for the growing and caring for certain species of plants and trees – fruit trees, crop-bearing trees, trees which animals and insects use for generating and regenerating flora and fauna, for timber, for soil regeneration and for the protection and beautification of our communities.

B. The identification of a plethora of seeds, rare, indigenous, endangered, exotic for planting on appropriate soil types. Ever heard of bilimbi, abiu, velvet apple, canistel, java plum, cachima, melwa kumquat and wax apple?

C. The development of a land bank. The identification of plots, mountainsides and hillsides, forests, old orchards and estates, commons such as the fringes of schools, public buildings, parks, settlements, roadways, “idle” state lands, family farms, spaces within and outside communities such as gardens and backyards.

D. The multiplication and diversification of germplasm stocks at the SAN.

E. The development of a seed bank at the SAN, involving communities and groups. What is the optimal quantity of seeds? The herbarium at UWI and the Botanical Gardens have chronicled the vast diversity of trees and plants historically found on our islands, which host one of the mostly densely speciated biota in the world – on account of our proximity to the Orinoco, the Gulf and the Amazon.

F. The building of dams, within or at the foothills of the Northern Range, to collect water during the wet season, to withhold, to irrigate vast tracts of land. As part of a larger extreme weather scheme and agrarian development plan.

G. The development of agronomy and home-gardening in primary, secondary schools and tertiary intuitions.

H. The enhancement of research in biochemistry, botany and biotech labs at our tertiary institutions. With the objective of invention and innovation in tree-crop culture and produce, in suitable pesticides, insecticides for instance. Working in commercial contractual tandem with manufacturers in the drinks and food production sectors.

I. The development of systems within the current market systems, stalls, town markets, supermarkets, veggi marts, farmers markets, low-priced food banks, health food shops to distribute fruit and tree-crop produce.

J. The development of specific flagship crops in constituencies. Pigeon peas might flourish in the hinterland and hills of Claxton Bay and Covigne in Diego Martin, but not elsewhere. Likewise, the four Cs, citrus, cocoa, coconut, corn and indigenous fruit like custard apple/cashima, caimite, carambola.

We have been assaulted with too much chemicals, pesticides, fertilisers in our food. With processed sugars, preservatives, food colouring, high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, emulsifying agents, and artificial sweeteners and flavours. Causing runaway obesity, chronic illnesses like diabetes, to the detriment of our pocket, the health and well-being of our doctors and nurses, our overburdened hospitals, and the state hospital finances. Pity our poor children!

The decision of Justice Mohammed, in my view, saved the St Augustine Nurseries. So did the work of our attorneys Kiel Taklalsingh, Rajiv Sochan, Stefan Ramkissoon, Dinesh Rambally, and Judy Kublalsingh who assisted in filing the matter.

So did the strong affidavits of Dr Yasmin Baksh-Cuomo, former curator of the UWI St Augustine herbarium; Evans Ramkhelawan, former agronomist at the Agricultural Services Division; Dr Pramenath Narinesingh, engineering consultant and fluvial geomorphologist; and Wahid Ojeer, farmer and advocate of home gardening and sustainable farming. They collectively gave us a reprieve.

I wonder what my grandmother meant by "vagabonds?" Rush-work, nah. Rushing the process, rushing the tomato to grow. By law, the EMA is required to protect our health and ecology.