[420 Girl]

In spite of just over $2-million worth of assistance in the form of agricultural inputs, the roughly 100 farmers in the bread-basket parish of St Elizabeth whose crops were scorched by a massive bush fire in March say they are still struggling. The farmers say they are depressed and are in dire need of more assistance.

The blaze which ravaged 64 hectares of crops and a few heads of livestock, had left an estimated $26-million damage. Shortly after the fire, agriculture minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who is also the MP for South West St Elizabeth was successful in lobbying Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin and the minister of national security, Derrick Smith, to undertake a probe in the fire.

The investigation came in the wake of allegations by farmers in the affected communities that the fire was caused by the burning of ganja fields by narcotics police in Big Woods.

The agriculture minister, who met with the affected farmers less than a week after the fire, at that time assured them that the investigation would be completed in the "shortest possible time". At the same time, he made it clear that if the findings of the investigations revealed that the fire was caused by the actions of the police, then he would be seeking compensation from the national security ministry on the farmers' behalf.

But with more than six weeks having passed since the probe began, the farmers are anxiously awaiting its findings. As I understand it, the probe is complete and the findings were submitted to the commissioner of police more than three weeks ago.

Why then have the findings not been made public? Mr Commissioner, the farmers want to know if the men under your watch were responsible for the destruction of their crops. And, if they are, the farmers would like to be compensated for their losses. The farmers also want to know if the narcotics police - who admitted that they carried out a ganja eradication exercise in the area on the day of the fire - were granted permission to light the fires.

Under the Parochial Law, persons wishing to light such fires should apply to the Fire Department for permission to do so. My understanding is that no application was made to the St Elizabeth Fire Department on the day of that massive blaze for permission to light ganja fields in the parish. And as such, the fire department was not aware that fires were to be lit by the police.

The importance of proper supervision in the lighting of fires, particularly during the dry season, cannot be overstated. Failure to supervise them could result in massive losses.

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