Cooler heads are seemingly prevailing in what turned out to be a heated dispute between a Spanish-owned sugar refinery company known as Green Tropics, and a group of over 30 vegetable farmers from the Valley of Peace area near the City of Belmopan, who had asserted that at least 150 to 200 acres of their vegetable crop had been recklessly wiped out by the multi-national’s pesticides during an aerial spraying exercise conducted on Saturday, March 15.
Samples of the vegetables – which included cabbage, tomato and pepper – were eventually sent abroad for testing by the Ministry of Agriculture, and when the results returned in mid-May, Green Tropics was fingered for the destruction of vegetation; however, a standoff ensued because the farmers claimed that the company provided them with two unreasonable alternatives – either to accept a certain amount of money for crops destroyed, or individually take a titled 5-acre plot of land belonging to the company.
When we last heard from the farmers, they indicated that they would seek legal action against the company over the crop damage, which was deemed to be as a result of Green Tropics’ crop dusting, but this past Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Jose Alpuche, told the media that instead, the two sides have independently sat down to hammer out their differences.
He said, “A couple weeks ago, when the results came out, the Ministry [of Agriculture] had facilitated discussions between the two parties with the Ministry in a facilitator role. Subsequent to those meetings, they have decided to go on their own to attempt to negotiate a solution. We’re informed by both parties that they have the broad picture of an agreement, but, as usual, there’s always a bit of time in working out the details, and we’re told by both of them that they are now in the process of working out those details for an amicable solution to the problem.”
While Alpuche was willing to give an update on the dispute, he was coy when addressing the fact that the small farmers are squatting on parts of Green Tropics’ Land.
“I think it was established that that is the fact, but as I said, they are working on a solution among themselves, which is absolutely good, that they will be able to hopefully coexist into the future. So we are giving them this opportunity to negotiate amongst themselves, and as I said, both parties have said that they have broad parameters of agreement and they are working on some of the details”, he said.
The CEO also could not verify the name of the fertilizer that supposedly burned and killed 80% of the farmers’ crops; however, we understand that the test results that were sent to the United States reportedly confirmed that indeed, “Round-Up” was used by crop dusters from Green Tropics, as evidenced in the residue left by two herbicides, glyphosphate and metsulphuron-methyl, the latter of which is not registered for use in Belize.
In response, Alpuche stated, “There was a particular pesticide that is not approved for use in Belize. It does not say that it’s not safe; it’s just not been approved. The issue of drift is something that happens from time to time, but there are usually mitigating factors to counter this sort of occurrence. I don’t think we can shy away from the use of aerial application, pesticides and quite frankly, even fertilizers. We are reviewing, along with the Department of Environment, this actual case, but [we are] also attempting to strengthen the guidelines of application of chemicals to ensure that we don’t have this sort of re-occurrence.”
Alpuche explained that because negotiations are still ongoing and the possibility of court action remains, in which the Ministry may be called for expert witness testimony, he could not discuss any issues having to do with who was at fault.
“On the issue of fault, as I said, we have to keep in mind that if the matter ends up in court, the Ministry may very well have to provide an expert testimony [so] I really don’t want to talk about who is at fault; I want to focus on the fact that we believe that they are well on the way to a negotiated solution”, he stated.
Green Tropics has reportedly invested approximately 90 million US dollars to produce and mill sugar in the Cayo District, and according to CEO Alpuche, the groundwork has concluded and the parts to erect the factory are currently being imported in order to assemble the sugar mill.