Businessman denies claims of forcing farmers off lands in Essequibo

Nov 18, 2021 News

…says farmers refusing to pay rent, sub-letting lands for hefty sums

Kaieteur News – Businessman Tamesh Jagmohan has debunked claims that he was forcing rice farmers off lands which they are currently cultivating on the Essequibo Coast.
In a statement Jagmohan said that his attention was drawn to a series of slanderous and erroneous claims being made in some sections of the media and on Facebook by a small group of farmers at the instigation of a close relative, claiming they are being forced off lands where they currently cultivate rice.
“We have been castigated and vilified as the all-consuming, big establishment which is unfairly pressuring small farmers eking out a livelihood. The group has portrayed themselves as the victims and our company and its principals as the villains,” Jagmohan said in the statement.
He clarified that his company’s intention is not to remove the farmers from “our lands for which we are the lawful holders of Title and Lease, following acquisition from Kayman Sankar and Company Limited. That has never been our intention.”
He said the reality of the situation however, is that the farmers occupying the lands have not been fulfilling their lawful obligations of paying rent. “Our Company had requested from the Rice Assessment Committee an increase in rent per acre of only $7,500, per crop in keeping with the relationship between ‘Owners and Tenants of Rice Lands’ as is outlined in the laws of our country. The Committee instead granted an amount of $4650, meaning our budget and financial obligations has been affected. Yet the farmers continue to refuse to pay their rent some of whom are sub-letting our lands for in excess of $30,000 per acre, making a hefty profit and are refusing to fulfill their obligations to us. How can this be considered fair?” Jagmohan queried.
He said his company has over the past few years been bending over backwards to reach out to these individuals with the hope that they will correct this injustice but to no avail. “As if that was not enough, these farmers harvesting from our lands, refusing to pay our company rent for using our lands, are also refusing to sell the paddy to our mills. We are heavily indebted to the local banking institutions for acquiring these lands from the previous owner and the continued refusal by the farmers to honour their financial obligations is putting serious strain on the finances of our company,” the businessman reasoned.
“We have constantly encouraged the farmers for them to come into our company so we can update our register of who is occupying which portion of lands. There are instances where original tenants would have passed away, and their relatives have taken over working our lands. As indicated above, in some instances they have sub-let our lands and are receiving rent. Our company simply wishes to regularise and have an updated register of our operations. That has been our position from the inception.
Hence, we are perplexed at both the attacks and innuendos hurled at the government and officials by this small group forcing them to intervene in what is a private arrangement between the lawful owner of these lands and those who are tenants. We use this opportunity to implore the government officials who have now been drawn into this issue, to explain to the group about their legal obligations to our company as outlined in the laws of Guyana. We do hope that good sense prevails and our company reaffirms our commitment to engage these farmers as time is of the essence.”

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