A Corentyne, Berbice crop farmer had his farm driven through by a rice farmer’s tractor, damaging watermelons and boulanger in the process.
The farmer is claiming damages in excess of half a million dollars.
Rakish Takoordial of Alness Village, Corentyne, Region Six, who farms on a six-acre plot of land which belongs to the NDC, has been cultivating cash crops for the past two years.
The 30-year-old farmer said that on Thursday last, a rice farmer who has his cultivation adjacent to his farm, drove his tractor through the farm and in the process damaged some of his crop.
Takoordial said he was also verbally abused by the rice farmer after he confronted him about the damages.
“I planting watermelon, baigan, sweet pepper and wiri-wiri pepper. I planting here over two years…If he tell me that he wanted to come in, I could have pull all the melon and if he mash one or two it wouldn’t have been nothing because I could have part them so that he could drive. But he just come in just so and yesterday [Thursday] when I ask him, he start to cuss up me,” the farmer told this publication.
According to the father of three, this is how he makes a living. He said following Thursday’s incident, he reported the matter to the Police, who subsequently engaged the rice farmer.
However, again on Friday, the farmer drove his tractor through his farm. This time it was done in the presence of a Police officer who had gone there to assess the damages. That officer was also verbally abused.
“He cuss up the Constable too and he cuss up me. He damage my watermelon; the value of the watermelon is $400,000 and the baigan is $100,000. The baigan plant I collected from NAREI [National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute].”
The eggplants were planted six weeks ago and according to Takoordial, his expenses include fertiliser, pesticides and gas to pump water to water his crop.
The farmer is seeking the intervention of officials from the Agriculture Ministry even as law enforcement is looking into the matter.
