AGRI SOCIETY STIFELD FOR PAST 10 YEARS

A claim that the Agriculture Society has been stifled for the past 10 years by the previous Government.

Transcript

00:00The Agricultural Society believes the sector can be greatly aided by tackling regulatory issues which don't require any financial investment.

00:10Director of the ASTT, Donnie Rogers, identifies tackling the Beekeeper and Bee Products Act to the benefit of the local industry.

00:19But without bees, and this is accepted global benchmark research, up to 70% of agricultural produce will be no more.

00:32And if we have no bees, it will take us at least 15 years to recuperate productive yields by other methods.

00:42Then there is the matter of praetial larceny.

00:45And how it has affected agricultural yields and agricultural production.

00:51And how it has also affected the number of farmers that we have practising today.

00:55Because some farmers, after you get robbed, and it's not just being robbed, you get shot, you get beaten, you have home invasions.

01:06After that, a lot of farmers just decided to opt out of productive agriculture.

01:11And Rogers says getting the reins of power back into the hands of one major stakeholder will do magic.

01:18But for the last 10 years, the society itself was stifled by the government.

01:25We had to deal with things like no vehicle, vehicle taken away, parked up in Centeno for months, doing nothing, funding.

01:40Up till now, up to this date, the society does not receive stipends.

01:44It's all till time, Rogers says, for an agriculture census.

01:49Our Vashita Wari, Rupna Rai, TV6 News.