Six months ago, we first told you about the dispute in Valley of Peace village in the Cayo District after 31 small farmers went head to head with the multinational, Green Tropics Limited. The farmers complained that Green Tropics sprayed herbicides on their crops from a crop duster. They claimed that the company damaged over a hundred thousand dollars worth of their crops, which they wanted compensation for.
Green Tropics countered that these farmers were squatting on the company's land, and so, the dispute had to be settled by the attorneys for both sides or it would end up in a drawn out legal battle.
Well, the news tonight is after months of negotiation, both sides have arrived at settlement believed to mutually beneficial. This morning, we spoke with the attorney for the farmers, and he told us what that resolution is:
Andrew Marshalleck - Attorney for the Farmers
"There has been an agreement with both parties, they've both agreed to the terms and I think it works in the interest of both sides. In terms of
exactly what it is from the farmers' side, they're releasing any claims they have based on any adversed position of lands belonging to Green Tropics
other than a 160 acre parcel that's been identified. And they're also releasing any claims that they have arising out of the damaged crops. From the
company's side, they're agreed to subdividing off a 160 acre plot, readying it for agriculture and transferring title to the farmers. It works for the
farmers that they now have legal title to the land, defined space, know that their rights are and can continue their farming. And it works for the
company in that the squatting issue has been resolved, the crop damage issue has been resolved and this is without any admission of liability on
anybody's part and they regularise relationship with their neighbours, so it sets a positive framework for them to move forward."
Hon. Julius Espat - Area Rep, Cayo South
"This shows that when you want to do things amicably, it can happen for the benefit of both parties. We in Cayo South and in the Cayo District
appreciate that Green Tropics is investing millions of dollars in our area. We are also appreciative that the farmers will get titles to land, they
have never had that for 33 years. My hats off to Green Tropics for facilitating this. They could have acted in a different way and dragged it off in
court and nobody would have only have enough money to able to have done that and we would have been in court for years and the poor farmers would have
suffered. And I give my hats off to the farmers, who understood for the first time that they have power in unity."
According to Marshalleck, the 160 acres of land which will be handed over to the farmers will have an area of a buffer zone to ensure that crop dusting with herbicides does not affect them in the future. Another notable characteristic to this land allocation is that the Valley of Peace Farmers want the entire farming association to be legally bound so that no one person out of the group can sell off a parts of the land without approval of all the farmers.
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