Concerned citizens call farmers and residents to picket at Dunbars; this is about food security, Wehner says

A picket by citizens opposed to the Government’s destruction of the
Dunbars Agricultural Station is being planned for Friday morning,
January 5.

Destruction of the farm lands began late last week as the
Government is seeking to transform the area into a housing
development.
 
REAL News correspondent George Wehner, who broke the news
about the injustice meted out to the agricultural workers, says he
has been flooded with calls from concerned persons wanting to take
action.
 
Wehner says the picket will start at 8 a.m. at the junction of Friars
Hill and Old Popeshead Roads.
 

This event should be used as an opportunity for the Nation – in
particular, farmers – to come out and show their objection to, and
disgust with, the constant disrespect of the Browne Administration
and its disregard for food security and agriculture on a whole.

In short, the concerned citizens group is calling on the Cabinet to
reconsider its decision to remove the farmers from that location and
turn the area into “upscale” residential housing. 

There are reports that the topsoil in the area already is being
removed and ponds are being back-filled, and Wehner says these
actions cannot be allowed to go through.

He points out that this issue is about the country’s food security and
its population, since Antigua and Barbuda imports more than 90
percent of what it consumes, including vegetables.

And according to workers at the Dunbars Station, quite a few crops –
including sweet potatoes – were destroyed when a backhoe began to
dig up the fields, damaging drip lines and
catching the farmers off guard.
 
Wehner says the Dunbars Agricultural Station should be maintained
for the purposes intended, and the planned housing development
should be moved to Bethesda – the intended site for relocation of
the agriculture workers.

The Dunbars site has all types of soil, and this location was used to
conduct experiments on certain crops, including research for
neighbouring Caribbean islands.

That was REAL News correspondent George Wehner.