THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE DESTRUCTION of the farmers' yam fields in Clarendon must rank as one of the most dastardly acts perpetrated on the poor of our country. Even if the land was cultivated without permission of the owners, the reasonable thing was to wait for the people to reap their crops then evict them, not to destroy the fields in this manner.
With the effect of last year's hurricane and this year's unstable dry and extremely wet weather, agricultural produce will mostly be in short supply. To destroy needed food supply and people's livelihood as shown on television on Friday night of December 16 can, in my opinion, be viewed as sacrilegious.
Any judge or state official giving orders to carry out such atrocities should be made to pay the farmers for their crops and the replacement of their plants (yam heads) and yam sticks for next year's crops. If there is a law which gives this authority to destroy, then that law is the proverbial 'ass'.
Our country is rife with crimes; destruction of this nature is a recipe for criminal activities. These people have to survive; what option is now left to them?
It will be of interest to hear comments from the Minister of Agriculture and the MP for the local area. What assistance can they propose and give to these farmers?
I am, etc.,
LES FRANCIS
ashrath@cwjamaica.com
Mandeville
Via Go-Jamaica
