Witter slams Campbell for ‘false claims’ about agriculture in St Bess

State Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Franklin Witter, has dismissed claims by Opposition Spokesman for Agriculture, Dr Dayton Campbell, that farmers in St Elizabeth are yet to receive Hurricane Beryl relief.

The country was impacted by Beryl, a category three hurricane, on July 3, with the breadbasket parish of St Elizabeth being among the hardest hit.

Speaking at a recent political meeting in South East St Elizabeth, Campbell suggested that hardly any farmer in the parish had received aid from the Government. He questioned how this could be, given that Witter is the junior minister for agriculture, with Floyd Green as the portfolio minister, and both men are Members of Parliament in St Elizabeth.

Dr Dayton Campbell

According to Campbell, “we have farmers in St Elizabeth who can’t get seeds, who can’t get fertiliser, who can’t get access to farm roads, who can’t get access to land, who have no storage, (and) where there’s no irrigation; there’s no money to help them farm. It is a disgrace.”

But Witter has hit back hard at the claims, arguing that, “This shows that the spokesperson truly has no clue what is happening in agriculture, and really should stick to his area of training, instead of making desperate, misguided and misleading utterances.

“To date, through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), 3,329 farmers from St Elizabeth have been assisted since Hurricane Beryl and have benefited from the distribution of 3,130 packs of seeds and 1,680 bags of fertiliser. Additionally, 28,000 broiler chickens and 1,800 layer chickens have been distributed to 571 poultry farmers,” Witter outlined.

“Furthermore, 325 banana and plantain farmers are set to benefit from distributions from the Banana Board, and RADA has also procured materials to assist 83 greenhouse farmers with plastic this month,” the junior minister added.

Continuing, Witter said “We have already started to see the fruits of this labour, as a number of our vegetables, such as tomatoes and lettuce, have started to re-emerge in our market space.

“It is unfortunate that the hard work of our team of officers, some of whom have been out there despite suffering significant damage to their homes, is being disregarded and belittled by the Opposition spokesperson. It would be better if he kept politics out of agriculture.”