Coffee farmer seeks assistance to recover farm produce
Published:Friday | April 29, 2022 | 12:07 AMShanna Monteith/Gleaner Writer
A BLUE Mountain Coffee farmer in Moy Hall, St Thomas, is desperately seeking the assistance of any agency that is able to help quell a long-standing issue he has been facing concerning farm lands.
Prince Smith told The Gleaner that he recently lost the ability to utilise nearly 10 acres of land and as a result, access to millions of dollars in ready coffee, in a court battle against proclaimed new owner, Paul Fletcher of Nakashka Coffee Company.
Sharing the backstory of his misfortunes, Smith said he was among planters who were given the opportunity to grow coffee in Moy Hall by the now defunct Blue Mountain Coffee Corporation which operated in the area.
“I started out and established a seven-acre plot. In 2005, they gave me a lease agreement and I have been cultivating undisturbed since. In 2012, the management of the cooperative said if there were any idle lands then we should occupy to cultivate coffee,” he said, adding that on this instruction, he copped another two acres.
The farmer explained that this later caused a dispute between himself and his neighbour, who then reportedly destroyed the coffee he had planted there.
“He said he doesn’t want me here. I valued the loss and it came to $2 million but he apologised and I decided to be lenient with him and replanted. Two years later he brought me to court to recover the land, which he said he bought and told me that my original seven acres will also be in jeopardy,” Smith recalled.
After a six-year battle which culminated recently, the farmer lost both lots to Fletcher, whom presented land titles in court to support his case.
Smith told The Gleaner that the judgment immediately ridded him of access to the properties with approximately 8,000 coffee trees and prohibiting him from reaping his harvest-ready crop.
ONLY LIVELIHOOD
“I am trying everything to see how I can get back my land or get compensation because this is my only livelihood. I borrowed loans to plant the coffee, I have various expenses. Right now the crop is being reaped and looted and the police are signalled to arrest me if I go there. I am calling on all the authorities to help me fix this,” Smith pleaded.
He questioned the weight of his original lease agreement which, according to him, still binds over 50 other farmers to their lots.
According to him, “I’m the only one who is being kicked off. The court says I am a squatter but I’m not. I have my lease agreement from the cooperative, a transfer lease agreement from them to Wallenford (Coffee Company) and I have a long-standing history of planting here.”
When contacted, managing director and CEO of Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, Norman Grant, who also represents Wallenford, said he is to speak with the vice-chairman, Mark McIntosh, for further advice on the status of Smith.
Grant also said that he further awaits a meeting with the farmer to ‘listen to his requests’.
Sharing his side of the story, owner of Nakashka Coffee Company told The Gleaner that he went to court to regain possession of his property after Smith began ‘taking over’.
“He was told not to plant there from the very beginning but he insisted and even wanted to extend his coffee into parts of the land that I was already planting on,” he shared.
Fletcher noted that while he was not properly maintaining his property at the time, Smith had no right to venture thereon.
“We are the registered owners and I wanted possession of what was mine. He thought he could just take over so I took him to court and it was a successful ruling,” Fletcher said.
Other farmers expressed sympathy at Smith’s current debacle.
“The same thing happened to me many years ago where I was farming on a piece of land and as the crop ready fi reap a man came with police to say he is the owner,” shared Carey Powell.
He continued: “It’s like a hurricane … starting over … It was a big setback for me. Right now I’d rather die than to have that happen again so I’m sympathising with Mr Smith because I know he did a lot of work on that property. Seeing what happening to him hurts me deeply. I’d like it to be resolved.”