The Ministry of Agriculture held another in a series of parish meetings with the nation’s farmers. This time the meeting was held with the farmers in St. John’s at the Gouyave Anglican School. Present at the meeting was Minister for Agriculture Hon Gregory Bowen, Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture Hon: Roland Bhola, Parliamentary representative for the area Hon: Claris Charles and Extension officer Mr. Augustine David. Minister Bowen in his opening remarks said “let me thank you for coming out, this is the second in a series of meetings, we started with Grenville and now we are here, we are here to hear from you, your plight, your suggestions, even your criticism and to concretize certain issues as to the way forward for the sector in St. Johns”. Minister Bhola in his remarks said that “we are not here to only to speak to you but to hear from you, listen to your concerns, we believe that if we are to resuscitate, replant and to rebuild agricultural to reach a better stage that it was prior to hurricane Ivan, you have a very integral part to play and work as a team to bring agriculture back”. Minister Bhola went on to speak on the Pest Management and the issue of squatting in the country. “Government is aware of the problem of squatting on crown lands, it’s a problem that has been around for a long time and in response to this problem this government has created within the Ministry of Agriculture an Anti-Squatting Unit, they are charge with the responsibility to deal with the situation” said Minister Bhola. Farmers in St. Johns spoke about the fact that the fertilizer that was given free was later being sold by individuals and the gas for the chain saw was also be sold by certain individuals, again the issue of not receiving pay by some workers came up, some complain of not seeing their extension officers for months at a time. The farmers in St. Johns also told the Ministers that they would like to see the programme of assistance continue, easier access to soft loans, the application process for these loans be made simple, more attention form extension officer, and the development of a team of 200 persons highly skilled farm labour, as a labour company that farmers could call upon when the need for labour arises. The next in the series of meetings will take place on Thursday June 23rd 2005, 5:30pm in the Parish of St. George’s upstairs the Melville St. fish market. All farmers in St. George’s are invited to attend the meeting. Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry, Fisheries, Energy, Public Utilities and MNIB