Farmers want compensation, while Green Tropics is awaiting assessment

Guatemalan sugar refining company, Green Tropics Ltd., was previously accused of the dredging of a sizeable tract of land within the Laboring Creek Jaguar Corridor Wildlife Sanctuary in June 2012, and now that same company is once again being blamed, by a small group of farmers, for the wholesale destruction of vegetation after the company conducted an exercise in which a deadly herbicide was allegedly spewed over approximately 200 acres of farmland.

Farmers in the Valley of Peace area in Cayo – which is the largest provider of vegetables to the Belize and Cayo districts – are currently up in arms, particularly because they are claiming roughly a million dollars of their vegetable crop was wiped out unsuspectedly due to what is known as crop-dusting.

The actual value of the loss is still being calculated, and up until this week, a task force comprised of relevant government agencies working with the Ministry of Agriculture has been investigating whether or not Green Tropics inadvertently damaged the vegetable crops belonging to the local farmers from Valley of Peace.

Amandala understands that the joint team is in the process of compiling a report, but at this time they are waiting a chemical test from a laboratory in El Salvador to positively identify the chemical in the herbicide which Green Tropics is being accused of dumping on the crops when their employees did their crop dusting nearly 3 weeks ago on March 15.

A low-flying aircraft contracted by Green Tropics Ltd. released what is believed to be a deadly dose of glyphosate in an area where farmers cultivate a variety of crops, including cabbage, pepper and tomato.

One of the farmers, Victor Valiente, told us that all their crops have been destroyed in a community that is responsible for roughly 75 percent of all vegetables supplied to the Cayo and Belize districts, and on occasions to the Orange Walk District.

Valiente said, “An airplane was fumigating thousands of our plants. I don’t know why they came all the way here; they should have fumigated with more care.”

Amandala spoke with Roberto Harrison today, who is the Chief Agricultural Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, and we were informed that the results of the investigations that are being carried out to ascertain whether Green Tropics are actually the ones responsible for the catastrophe will be known later this week.

Harrison stated, “Green Tropics has admitted that they have sprayed on the fields and that in fact they had used RoundUp to do their spraying. Basically, they were spraying to cause defoliation of the bush so that they could better prepare for their operations. We have not concluded to say whether or not it was a direct effect of the spraying that they did on Saturday [March 15].”

However, that is no consolation to the farmers who are infuriated after seeing what they described as “over a million dollars” in vegetable crop sales go to waste.

In order to recover from their astronomical losses – which reportedly represent an investment of a half a million dollars – the farmers are seeking compensation from the Spanish-based company.

“I feel upset because they didn’t have to do that, so they [Green Tropics] will have to see what they could do [for us] because this is bad and we don’t know what will happen. We have been working the soil since November and we already invested a lot of money. We expect that the people from the sugar factory will compensate us in an adequate manner because they are the ones who have done this. I have 5 children and this is how we maintain our family. I have children in school. Even those outside will suffer because there will be a scarcity and that means more expensive vegetables because here we produce the majority of the product. When it comes to cabbage, people from Belmopan, Belize and Cayo get it from here”, a seemingly distressed Valiente told us.

According to the Chief Agricultural Officer, if it turns out that Green Tropics is responsible for the crop damage, even if it has been proven that it wasn’t intentional, the company will still be held liable to compensate the farmers.

Last Friday, March 28, Amandala got comment from Green Tropics’ Country Representative, Beverly Burke, and she explained that it would be considered premature at this point to determine whether the actions of Green Tropics actually led to the devastation of the crops, and that the company cannot assume responsibility without a proper assessment being done.

She reiterated that officials from the Ministry of Agriculture have sent samples from the affected plants abroad for testing, and notified us that those samples should be back by this Thursday, April 3.

Burke stated that Green Tropics Ltd. is awaiting the completion of the assessment presently being conducted by the government bodies in order to establish whether the 30 farmers might need to be compensated for any loss incurred due to the company’s negligence.

“It is all hinged on the finality of the assessment”, she maintained, asserting that if the assessment is completed and it is deemed to be a loss that was indeed caused by the company then Green Tropics Ltd. will be liable to deal with it at the conclusion of the assessment.

The situation, according to Burke, is unfortunate, and she added that in the end, they hope that both parties can come together to decide on a way forward.

In the larger scheme of things, consumers will likely feel the effects of the crop damage deep in their pockets because those types of produce might have to be imported (depending on demand) to make up for the anticipated shortfall which will ultimately drive up the market prices across the country.