DISPLACED farmers in Bernard Lodge, St Catherine, are demanding justice after waiting three years for the Government to make good on its promises.

The farmers complain that they have been uprooted from their farm lands to make way for the Greater Bernard Lodge Development Master Plan. But most say they are now suffering with little to no help from the Government.

The Greater Bernard Lodge Development Master Plan is a long-term plan to accommodate future population growth in the Kingston Metropolitan Area and create a sustainable integrated township.

In 2019 after a fierce battle for land, SCJ Holdings Limited — the Government’s land management company — decided to create a new agricultural subdivision of 1,330 acres located to the south of the development to appease the farmers. The farmers were told they will be relocated to that location where they will be allowed to continue their farming practices.

However, they say the Government has not delivered on its commitment.

“We were operating at a particular location, the Government needs that location to put up their city, they went ahead without any consideration for the farmers, we complained bitterly and the prime minister himself came and assured us that we will be taken care of and that no farmer that’s on the land working now will be worse off but that is far from the truth,” said Hugh Johnson who have been a farmer in Bernard Lodge for more a decade.

Johnson told the Jamaica Observer that he gave up where he was for more than one year and six months and is yet to be relocated.

He further stated that “there are other farmers who were removed and have not been given adequate replacement.”

However, SCJ’s managing director Joseph Shoucair said “I am unaware of any farmer, who had been required to relocate, not being allocated replacement lands. I would, happily, agree to meet with any farmer who alleges to the contrary.”

As for the farmers who have been relocated, they complain that the newly created area which they call ‘Salt Pond’ is high in saline, infested with alligators and is not suitable for agricultural production.

However, the SCJ has presented soil analysis of the land which supports the State’s claim that the land is arable.

Notwithstanding, Wesley Mignott, a Bernard Lodge farmer who was relocated, said, “I’ve been planting on the other land and also this one and it’s actually more productive where we’re coming from.”

For Mignott the most important thing is getting affordable pressurised water for his crops.

“Where we coming from was irrigated for farming, we had pressurised water and on five acres of land I used to use up to $4,000 on water per month. Where we’re at now there’s no pressurised water, what we have is a situation where we’ve got to pump from canals and there are times when you’re not going to have any water because when the water is too turbid in the Rio Cobre they have to shut it down,” he lamented.

He told our news team that he’s currently spending $1,500 for gas to pump water which amounts to about $45,000 per month for fuel alone.

In response, Shoucair said “the farmers were indeed promised proper irrigation and a system, that will provide pressurised irrigation water is in the process of construction. In the meantime, the farmers are provided with irrigation water via a National Irrigation Commission irrigation canal, the cost of which water is borne by SCJ Holdings Limited, at its sole cost and expense.”

He further stressed that “where farmers have animals, that require potable water, this is also provided at SCJ’s sole cost and expense. To the best of my knowledge and belief, therefore, I am able to state that none of the relocated farmers are required “to dip into their own pockets to pay for water”.”

Nevertheless, Johnson argued that the conditions farmers are being subjected to can only be described as atrocious.

“Three years now we were promised irrigation facilities for the new area that they are proposing to put the farmers and up until today it hasn’t been done. So, who says that all the other promises will go differently? It’s an atrocity, it’s a disgrace to see how farmers are being treated in this country in 2022 by our Government.”

Similarly, Michael Blake, who claims he invested $200 million in his farm, is crying foul play by the authorities and is now sharing his grievances in court where the matter is currently being tried.

“As a farmer I am suffering because my pipes have been sabotaged, yuh go and the whole irrigation pipe chop up! Yuh go over the bridge and when you get to your farm they have lock on the gate, nobody call yuh to say we are putting up a gate, but a gate is put up and its locked. Well, I have a 25 year lease, mi cut it off and go a mi farm, that is my right! And no power under the heavens is gonna stop mi from accessing my farm. I was in court with them yesterday and the struggle will continue. I invest over $200 million and overnight you decide to sell or lease my farm to your friends because their money is gold and mine is silver, it is not so,” Blake argued.

The farmers are now insisting that the lands on which they were be returned for them to continue their livelihood.

“Don’t destroy any more of the first class irrigation system that we have, all of these lands that the farmers were on have A1 irrigation systems and that is what they are digging up to plant concrete and putting the farmers in the wilderness where there is no water, no road, no facilities, said Johnson.

He further stated that “farmers were removed and it is at a cost, no consideration has been given for that and as it relates to the water crisis that we are facing the aquifer needs to be recharged and we hear some talks about some fancy scheme to recharge the aquifer, it is not being done.”

He said the farmers have called upon United Nations and other international bodies that have agree to join in the lobbying efforts.

The displacement of farmers comes at a time when the island is grappling with low food production amid rising global commodity and gas prices.

While the SCJ managing director admitted that the entire relocation exercise at Bernard Lodge has not been without its challenges. he maintains that “the majority of the difficulties have been overcome and we will, in the not too distant future, see the development of a modern agricultural subdivision, accommodating small to medium size farmers, which is fully supported by all the necessary services,” said Shoucair.