Farmer cries foul over land cut

Bryden Springer was reportedly planting butternut squash when bulldozers arrived on his five-acre plot in St Lucy.

According to him, the machinery was there to carve up his lot for another farmer and he said he had not been notified in advance.

The veteran agriculturalist has since alleged “unjust displacement” after receiving what he described as a handwritten note reducing his allocation from five acres to one. The situation has led to a confrontation between the farmers.

The situation started in 2017 when soil tests revealed Springer’s land was no longer fertile. Speaking to reporters at his Content lot – part of Government’s Spring Hall Land Lease Project – a visibly shaken Springer explained how agricultural experts told him to let the land rest.

“Around 2017, with the Canadian Hunger Foundation through a technical assistance programme with [the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC)] and [the Barbados Agricultural Society], my land was selected for soil fertility testing. The results came back indicating that my land needs resting.”

Springer waited for earthworms and centipedes to return – the biological indicators that would signal the soil was ready for farming again.

“They told me when you see earthworms, centipedes, and millipedes return to the soil, it is ready for cultivation,” Springer said.

“That was communicated to the BADMC personnel.”

Come December 2022, the bugs were back. Springer started planting and by 2023, he had butternut squash growing. His recent harvest proved the strategy worked: 110 bags weighing 78 pounds each from just half an acre.

However, last Thursday morning brought a rude awakening when BADMC delivered a notice to Springer’s home: “Your five acres just became one acre”.

“I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, I only received a handwritten note from BADMC . . . telling me that they have reduced my land from five acres to one acre. The other four, they haven’t said what they would do with it,” Springer said.

The official letter from BADMC, said Springer had failed to use his “complete acreage for over five years”. They also hit him with a $13 877.80 bill for rental and water charges. The land reduction takes effect July 6.

Clarity

Springer said he has written to BADMC Agricultural Services Division Manager, Dr Jamekal Andwele, laying out his investments, compliance with expert advice and business plans. He noted the land had been used since early 2023 and demanded clarity after bulldozers appeared in May 2024.

During Springer’s media interview, neighbouring farmer Robert “Bobby” Griffith stormed in, calling him a liar and claiming the disputed land was rightfully his.

“They offered me Mr Springer’s land right up to the top,” Griffith told reporters.

“Mr Springer planted nothing for years. He let it run to bush. I cleared it after they offered it to me . . . It took almost two months to clear that land . . . I have my contract, signed since April.”

Griffith waved around a contract dated April 25 for the four acres in question. He insisted BADMC had asked him to cultivate the area because Springer was in breach of his lease.

“If you don’t plant the land in five years, they give you an extension.

If you still don’t do anything with the land, they take it back . . . . The land is for production and he wasn’t producing,” Griffith said.

Springer fired back, insisting his land was deliberately left fallow based on expert guidance and that he’d been actively farming since 2023 as the squash harvest proved the soil restoration worked.

Sacrifice

“It shows that the resting of the land was the right thing to do,” said Springer. “I have already sacrificed the rest of the land – no income.”

The psychological impact has been brutal, he admitted.

“Imagine you planting your land and a tractor is in your land and you’re being told it’s being ploughed for someone else. It had me under severe stress.”

BARVEN president, Alister Alexander, who witnessed the confrontation, chided BADMC for its handling of the situation.

“This is unjust. Totally unjust. Even if they were revoking his lease, there must be decent correspondence. BADMC cannot produce any legitimate correspondence with this gentleman,” Alexander declared.

He hammered the agency’s communication failures, pointing out that after years of silence, a handwritten reduction notice was their first real correspondence with Springer.

“The first piece of written correspondence he has gotten from BADMC is today (Thursday) . . . . You cannot treat the citizens of Barbados this way,” BARVEN is now demanding high-level Government intervention, arguing this goes beyond administrative bungling to fundamental questions about fairness and transparency in land distribution.

“We are calling upon the Government of Barbados to right this wrong,” said Alexander.

“This kind of injustice cannot stand in our new republic.”

Multiple attempts to get a comment from BADMC CEO, Frederick Inniss, were unsuccessful.

(DDS)

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