Agriculture

Devastated by August earthquake, Los Iros farmers still waiting for help

Six months af­ter the Au­gust earth­quake ripped apart 50 acres of prime agri­cul­tur­al lands in Los Iros, farm­ers say they have re­ceived no as­sis­tance from the Gov­ern­ment.

Dur­ing a protest at Roy­al En­gi­neer (RE) Road, Erin, farm­ers showed off fields of parched crops.

Pres­i­dent of the Los Iros Hillview Farm­ers As­so­ci­a­tion Reshi­anand Ram­raj said the fields of pro­duce with­ered be­cause most of the ma­jor ponds in the area had dried up. More than 20 ir­ri­ga­tion ponds were dam­aged by the 6.9 mag­ni­tude earth­quake.

Thieves hit Williamsville farmers as Predial Larceny Squad dormant

Having lost thousands of dollars in crops at the hands of thieves, Williamsville farmers are calling on Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat to revamp the Predial Larceny Squad.

Farmer Ramsumair Hanuman said the squad has not been responding to distress calls nor was it patrolling farming communities.

Saying the Corial Road farmers were especially hard hit by larceny, Hanuman said they were hopeful that Rambharat would investigate and intervene in their plight.

Five companies bid for Aripo farm

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat yesterday dismissed reports that former People’s National Movement treasurer Andre Monteil is the leading bidder to manage the Aripo Livestock Station which spans over 1,000 acres.

Rambharat was responding to claims from the president of the T&T Farmers’ Union Shiraz Khan. Khan had called on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to name the investors who submitted bids to manage the State-owned station a public/private arrangement, as reports had surfaced that Monteil was leading the list of bidders to operate the State-owned station.

FDA: Romaine lettuce is safe once it's not from central CA

Romaine lettuce is safe to eat as long as it's not from California’s Central Coast growing region, federal health officials said late Monday.

So far, an outbreak of E. coli linked to romaine lettuce has made 43 people sick in 12 states, plus another 22 in Canada, the Food and Drug Administration said.

The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they had narrowed down the suspect lettuce to lettuce harvested in northern and central California.

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