WHY ME?

This is what Sir Charles "COW" Williams is asking general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers, Dennis Clarke, after the latter was published in the DAILY NATION as saying the former should be forced to plant a quarter of his land at Kendal Plantation, St John, in food crops.

Speaking on Voice Of Barbados' Down to Brass Tacks on Wednesday, the construction magnate wondered why Clarke had singled him out when there was plenty of "fallow" [unseeded] land in Barbados, including Government land, going to grass.

"The government is the biggest land owner. Why not ask it to plant 20 to 40 per cent of its land in crops? Why me? There are hundreds of acres in Barbados in bush. Why single out me? Why has he chosen me? Tell me one other person who has put the amount of money and effort in agriculture that I have?" he asked.

Calling Clarke's statements "particularly vicious, vindictive and unfair", Sir Charles said he was using Kendal Plantation to conduct experiments which would ultimately benefit Barbados.

"We spent $8 million putting down a new dairy to improve efficiency and to set up a Black Belly sheep project to see if we can prove whether they are a [viable] alternative to sugar cane. We at present have in excess of 770 breeding ewes and are now milking around 180 cows, producing an average 3 000 litres of milk a day.

"Do you think this remark ought to be used by a person holding a job like Mr Dennis Clarke, when we are in fact the largest agriculturalist producers of food supplement in this island?" he asked.

Sir Charles also explained how the land was being used.

"Let me explain to Mr Clarke that at Kendal in 2007, we grew 60 acres of corn to supplement our feed because of the high cost of corn, soybeans and so forth in our fields. We grew 25 acres of potatoes, an acre of peas, half acre of yams, two acres of cassava which we only sold the last of last week.

"In addition, we have 240 pigs and . . . 45 horses with 20 people employed to see after them, which need a maximum of 15 acres of grass," he said.

And, he also said that of the total 480 acres of Kendal Plantation, around 77 acres [around 16 per cent] was currently being used for food crops but said he planned to increase it to 140 acres [around 29 per cent] this year. (CA)