Rayon Dyer, Gleaner Writer

Sweet Peppers that were allegedly damaged by the Alpart Bauxite plant's emissions in Nain, St. Elizabeth. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Black River, St. Elizabeth:

The favourable weather conditions that have prevailed for much of the year has provided farmers with the oppor-tunity to expand production, but some in southern St. Elizabeth are now counting their losses as a result of damage to their crops allegedly by dust from the nearby Alpart Alumina plant.

"We have been suffering from this for a long time. We would go to our beds and woke up to find the leaves of our sweet peppers, beans, tomatoes and pumpkin turn black," said a distraught Hopeton Williams, a farmer from the Genus area of the parish.

Mr. Williams explained that several tests conducted on crops by personnel from the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) office in St. Elizabeth have ruled out insects or diseases, but have pointed to the dust emanating from the bauxite mining plant located in Nain, St. Elizabeth, as the cause of the problems affecting their crops.

Norman Bernard, another farmer complained that the dust allegedly from the bauxite mining plant has destroyed the half acre of sweet peppers and tomatoes that he planted. He estimated the loss of his crops in excess of $160,000.

"We heard that Alpart was going to do some blowing out of substance that are very hazardous to crops, but nobody notified us of anything," he claimed when interviewed. "This is unfair to us and we need to speak to someone from Alpart," Mr. Bernard demanded.

Merlene Witter, whose crops were also affected by this dust, explained that she has been experiencing financial difficulties due to the damage to her cabbages, carrots, pumpkins and tomatoes, which were all wiped out.

"To give you an estimate of what I lost, I would say it's about $300,000 to $390,000 and without compensation it is going to be very difficult for me to start again," she lamented.

However, when contacted by Farmers Weekly for a comment, public relations manager of Alpart, Lance Neita, said "we are aware of complaints from certain areas re (garding) allege damage to crops and are in the process, as we speak, of carrying out our investigations as per our normal environmental claims response policy."

Mr. Neita said the investigation was being carried out through "visits by our internal agricultural team, independent assessors and RADA officers to ascertain the causes of the allege damage, whether it be from natural causes, improper agricultural practices or any impact from the company."