The Paraquita Bay farmlands have been singled out as being amongst some of the farmlands in the British Virgin Islands that have been managed extremely poorly over the years.
This is according to the Premier and Minister of Finance Dr. the Honourable Natalio Wheatley who made the statement at a recent press conference.
He said the processes which have been in place to govern the distribution of the farmlands at the Paraquita Bay location have lacked accountability and transparency over a number of years.
“I would say that our farmlands up until this point, particularly in Paraquita Bay, have been managed very poorly. There hasn’t been a proper process in place to ensure any level of accountability in terms of the use of the plots and even a transparent process to even be able to receive a plot”, Premier Wheatley stated.
He added, “So it’s been very poor and we are seeking to implement a transparent, fair, accountable process for persons to be able to apply for plots, and if awarded a plot, that they’ll have a lease that would hold them accountable in terms of how they should conduct themselves on that particular plot. And certainly as well, with a lease, they’ll certainly have to pay some money.”
Issues to be resolved soon
Wheatley, who is still the Minister responsible for Agriculture, assured the public that the aforementioned issues he outlined will be rectified in short order.
He said the recently commissioned committee for the Paraquita Bay farmlands will be presenting to Cabinet soon their intended proposal for the new process which will be utilised to better manage the farmlands.
“Very soon a process is going to come to Cabinet. This was put in place by our Paraquita Bay Land Management Committee which is led by Dr. Harlen Vanterpool who’s more than capable I would say of putting a proper process in place to be able to manage the lands at Paraquita Bay. And it would be a model that we can use in other areas as we seek to allocate resources for land”, he said.
“But very soon we’ll be educating and informing the public about the process that you’re going to have to apply for land and even the persons that are currently on the land, the process they’re going to have to go through to be able to remain on the land, and what the rules would be in terms of them remaining on the land”, Dr. Wheatley added.
Reservoir coming to Paraquita Bay
The leader of government business also revealed plans to have a reservoir constructed at the Paraquita Bay location, to assist with the water woes that have been plaguing farmers in the area.
“We are in the process of making funds available for infrastructural development that will help to facilitate farming, especially access to water. Among other things, the House of Assembly will soon approve a Supplementary Appropriation Bill (SAP) that will fund the construction of a reservoir at Paraquita Bay as well as equipment to pump water from our wells. These steps will improve our hardworking farmers’ ability to produce food for our people, especially as we see prices continue to rise due to inflation”, Premier Wheatley explained.