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Cash crop farmer, developer battle for ownership of farmland
A cash crop farmer from Sara Johanna, East Bank Demerara, Kenneth Samaroo, says that he has suffered close to $300,000 in losses after his farmland was ravaged by an individual who is laying claim to possession.
Samaroo told Kaieteur News that he, along with 15 other farmers, has been farming on the land since the early 1980s.
He explained that on Friday at around 10:00hrs, a self-styled developer along with some policemen visited the farmland with a ‘Bobcat’ and started to bulldoze the crops.
According to Samaroo, the developer showed him a document, which he claimed is the transport for the land.
However, it was explained that since the farmers have been farming on the land for so long, they had filed for ‘Prescriptive Rights’ at the Lands and Surveys Commission.
This matter is currently in the courts, and according to Samaroo, the farmers are expected to get the title for the land anytime soon.
Kaieteur News understands that the land was transported to the now dead Debidyal in 1979. Today, Patrick Dyal, the dead man’s brother, has the power of attorney.
The self-styled developer, Fazil Ali, meanwhile, has since been clearing the land of the farmers. However, what he failed to do was to adequately inform the farmers that they needed to remove from the land.
On Friday, the man apparently arrived at the land with the police and proceeded to destroy the crops without giving proper notice to the farmers.
It was explained that this should have never taken place in the presence of the police, as they have the responsibility to ensure that adequate notice was given to the farmers to remove from the land.
When the developer and the police arrived on the farmland, Kenneth Samaroo and other farmers stood in front of the bulldozer, preventing it from destroying the crops, but they eventually removed having been persuaded by the police who were there.
The farmers plant on approximately 50 acres of land, and supply on a regular basis to two popular supermarkets in the city.
Samaroo said that close to 1,500 cabbage plants have been damaged along with lettuce and other cash crops.
The cash crop farmer said that he has already made contact with his lawyer, who was expected to file an injunction in the court yesterday, restricting the developer from accessing the land. Up to late yesterday, the injunction was not granted.
When contacted for a comment on the issue, Patrick Dyal told this newspaper that those farmers are “squatters” on the land and they do not have any claims there.
He declined to say exactly who has legal ownership of the farmland and added that the matter is currently engaging the attention of the courts, and is therefore sub judice.
Dyal said that he visited the farmland a few weeks ago and through the intervention of the courts, he is trying to get rid of the “squatters” there. But with the matter before the courts, the action to bulldoze the farmers seems precipitate, one lawyer said.
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