Amid food-security talk, crops are vandalized and farmer says Ministry of Agriculture must shoulder some responsibility

Alvin Christian, the well-known farmer and water-management consultant, has had his Bathlodge farm cruelly vandalized, and he says the Ministry of Agriculture bears some responsibility for the situation.

Even as food security and climate change were occupying the national discourse last week, REAL News received photos of Christian’s carefully planned farm, where coconut palms and citrus trees had been methodically hacked by an intruder.

Christian tells our News Room that he will lose 99 per cent of the young palms that were chopped near their roots.  Further, he has lost more than 100 special citrus trees, since most of those slashed were cut below the point of their graft.

The veteran farmer describes the vandalism as “a strange set of circumstances;” and while he says he “can’t figure out the motives,” he acknowledges that such things “have been going on for nearly 25 years.”

He believes the issue stems from the division of lands in that particular area and, in particular, access to his own farm, where a sizeable dam runs year-round.

Over the 25 years, Christian says he has had meetings with successive permanent secretaries in the Ministry of Agriculture, but there has never been any official resolution of the problems he faces.  Accordingly, he lays some blame for the ongoing vandalism at the Ministry’s door.

He notes, however, that the water that feeds his damn is not confined to his farm.  He lists the different sources from which the water comes and notes that even farms going over to Jennings and in the Big Creek area are also fed by these waterways. 

And, as far as access goes, Christian says he controls his property only, since there are other accessible roads providing entry and exit to his neighbours.

Trying to be philosophical about his losses, Christian says, “God will take care of me,” and he is thankful that his material needs are few.

He explains that what he has built over the last 10 years is for those farmers who will come after him – but that he would like to see Antiguans and Barbudans, in particular, expand on the foundation he has created.

“I believe we should build our people first; it’s the right thing to do,” Christian says.  “My children might not want to continue this farm; but somebody among our people should be able to take it up,” he states.

Meanwhile, a young crop farmer from the Table Hill Gordon area is lamenting the vandalism and taking the hurt unto himself.  “This  is not just about Christian,” he says.

But a livestock farmer tells REAL News he is not surprised that such things continue to happen.  “The farmers are weak; they refuse to organize into one unit.  Nobody sticking up for anybody; so anything can happen to any one of us,” he says.  “It’s our fault.”