7 News Belize

Toledo Farmer Says He Got Chanced By Forestry
posted (February 21, 2017)
And so while that is a definite and much needed win for conservation in its battle against lawless loggers, the next story we're going to tell you about is not so clear cut. It's about farmers in the Toledo District who were farming in the Colombia Forest Reserve, which is a protected area. Now that is definitely off limits, but they say they were in there for a decade, and then suddenly on Friday, Forestry and police swept in, and without any notice burnt their corn and rice. Benito Makin told us via telephone that he lost a whole lot:..

Benito Makin - Aggrieved Farmer
"They burned down our plantation without telling us anything. They could have at least informed us to pick up our corn, if they know that we are in the forest reserve, but nothing like that happened. They did not inform me. The loss of my corn is, around 14,000 pounds of corn. That's a big lost for me because that is the only thing I have to depend on to feed my children, to find my little dollar out of that, feed my chickens with it and I right now I'm staying without food. What am I going to eat? I need to feed my children, now and tomorrow. It's a lot of us. Why is it only our farm that they destroyed?"

Jules Vasquez
"However, you are aware that you are farming in a forest reserve."

Benito Makin - Aggrieved Farmer
"No."

Jules Vasquez
"You were no aware that you were farming in a forest reserve?"

Benito Makin - Aggrieved Farmer
"Yes, but we were working there for over 10 years."

Another farmer, Jose Cho also lost over ten thousand pounds of corn but he didn't want to comment at this time. The Chief Forest Officer told us he didn't know about the case and would be seeking confirmation. The area representative Oscar Requena told us that he confirmed with the district forest officer that it was a joint police and forestry operation.

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