The Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Leslie Miller is threatening stiffer penalties to deal with Bahamians who are abusing parcels of crown land which have been leased for agriculture purposes.
The problem was first pointed out by MP Pierre Dupuch back in 2004.
Mr. Miller first threatened action in March, 2006.
Even the Prime Minister has admitted that the Bahamas land policies are flawed. Yet, sadly but typically, nothing has ever been done.
Miller called the environmental degradation that has been uncovered in areas like Carmichael, Cowpen and Millerﾒs roads in southwestern New Providence an atrocity and an utter disgrace.
In some instances land leased for agriculture purposes has been used to erect residential dwellings, used as dumpsites and the top layer of soil eroded.
“What is even more atrocious is that some persons have leased agriculture land and have mined the land so much so that pools of depths up to 12 feet now exist on some of those plots,” he said while making his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly this week.
“The top soil of some of these plots have been stripped and sold by these unscrupulous individuals. The productive capacity of these sites for farming or for use as housing developments have been lost permanently.”
The same situation is occurring in the Family Islands, he said.
Only limited commercial farming takes place in New Providence, according to officials. The majority of commercial farms are in the Family Islands.
Minister Miller weighed the situation against the governmentﾒs programme to provide low cost housing for Bahamians in an era where the price of land is steadily increasing and is out of the reach of the average citizen.
He vowed to pursue a number of sanctions against the culprits who have abused the conditions of their lease of crown land.
“It is the ministryﾒs intention to attempt as best we can to prosecute those persons who would have degraded crown land in New Providence as well as the Family Islands and to of course void their leases and to avoid further damage to the land which they had leased from the people and the Government of The Bahamas,” he said.
“My ministry is going to bring some legislation here to have some stiff rules enacted to be able to confiscate equipment that would be on that land and also to provide some heavy fines if not jail terms to stop it,” he added.
In one notorious case that was brought to light last year, the Bahamas National Trust and government officials pursued prosecutorial action against a local contractor who was accused of illegal dumping and filling of a crucial marine wetland called the Bonefish Pond National Park.
The Department of Physical Planning eventually issued a “Cease and Desist” order who was said to be contravening the Conservation of Physical Landscape Act and the Environmental Health Services Act. Since then, officials have said that they are in talks to have the offender pay for the restoration of the land.
The park is especially important because it is a marine nursery area for the island, providing a protective nutrient rich habitat for juvenile stocks of fish, crawfish and conch. The area also supports a wide variety of waterfowl and protects unique flora on the interior islands including several species of native orchids.
The agricultural frontier in The Bahamas consists of acres of arable land some of which has been designated for farming. In North Andros 13,869 acres have been set aside for agriculture; in Abaco 11,737 acres and in Grand Bahama 10,542 acres.
However in New Providence only 2,000 acres have been designated for framing, primarily in areas like Coral Harbour, Millers Road, Carmichael Village, Golden Isles and Marshall Road.
Officials at the Ministry of Housing also had their hands full with stubborn squatters on government land that had been identified for low cost housing subdivisions.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
