THE Belle Vue Pilot Scheme was a cane farming experiment initiated by the management of Bookers Sugar Estates. This scheme resulted in the lives of 57 cane cutters and general labourers from the East and West Demerara Sugar Estates being transformed into cane farmers.

A contractual agreement of 20 years that was conditional was signed on April 4, 1956 between the management of Wales Estate and the pioneer farmers to cultivate sugar cane on lands provided for them on the north and south sections of Belle Vue, west of the housing area.

Approximately 15 acres of prime cane lands were allotted to each farmer. It was hoped that the land would have provided full-time employment for every family.

As part of the agreement, houses were also provided. Each family was given a two-storeyed concrete building with two bedrooms on the upper flat and a living room and kitchen on the lower flat along with a toilet and bath adjacent to the house.

A recommended size of playfield and later a community centre which was built in 1970 formed part of the package for them to live a comfortable and independent life.

My father, Joe Mangal and eight other cane cutters and general labourers with their families from Wales Estate were among those who benefited from the scheme. They were living in long ranges (logies) for the indentured labourers; they also had latrines built over a trench some distance away from the living quarters. Their homes were infested with bed bugs, mosquitoes, rats and other pests that have caused them some discomfort periodically.

I assume that most of the other pioneers were living in similar conditions coming from other estates. Moving to Belle Vue was therefore an ‘A plus’ to many of them. It was a new community with a better living standard and a place of employment.

Belle Vue was a cooperative layout from the inception. Each farmer having plots in different fields facilitated each other with drainage which is very important for the crops that would produce better yields. This community is made up of people from different ethnic backgrounds but there is that togetherness amongst them. The spirit of cooperation causes them to help each other to harvest their crops.

On February 22, 1967, Belle Vue Pilot Scheme was transformed and renamed Belle Vue Cane Farmers Marketing Cooperative Society. Its registration number is 967. This pilot project is considered the oldest group of its kind (1956-2011) 55 years in existence.

REFLECTION ON THE PROJECT

The project was administered by Wales Estate and managed by Mr. Peter Kent, also called ‘Mr. Peter King’, an immigrant from England. Mr. Reuben Pollard, a Guyanese, was appointed as the cane farming liaison officer.

I was a nine-year-old kid, yet I can recall very well that Mr. Peter King had told my dad that the cane farm would have been a success and it would have turned into a paradise and every farmer could be the owner of a motor car.

Years later, it had materialized to what the gentleman had said. However, not every farmer invested in a car, some invested in tractors and trailers to transport canes for other farmers in other societies, some bought properties in neighbouring villages while some of them expanded and did renovation to their homes. Others made valuable investments in their children’s welfare even educating them to higher learning at university level. Some families migrated to other countries, such as Canada, England, and the United States.

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE 1980s

In the early 1980s, the society has made some significant achievements. It had acquired a loan from the Agriculture Development Bank and had purchased two brand new M.F. 290 wheel tractors with two sets of plough, a four discs and a three discs.

Three years later, due to its good credibility, the society was entitled to a second loan. It made a worthwhile investment in purchasing 25 brand new cane punts in the cross canals. In the late 1980s, the society also purchased two second-hand wheel tractors, a 444 International Harvester and a M.F. 135.

I am very much proud of the achievements the people in our community had acquired over the years. I am specifically thankful to the Almighty God for what we have accomplished in life through Belle Vue Cane Farm.

The Belle Vue Cane Farmers were promised to be given collective ownership to these cane lands by the former Presidents L.F.S Burnham, Desmond Hoyte and Cheddi Jagan.

We are now asking our newly elected and vibrant leaders, President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Agriculture Leslie Ramsammy to give us collective ownership to empower this Co-op Society to gain access to loans and grants that will increase better yields to our crops and to improve the economic conditions for every family.

The government and GuySuCo can use the concept and principles of what Bookers Sugar Estates has done for Belle Vue Cane Farmers and help other sugar workers to become cane farmers which will increase production and productivity that will prolong the life of the sugar industry.

PRESENT STATE

Our society is in a grave situation due to mismanagement, over a period of time, which ended-up in a land dispute that caused us to be raped of our birthright.

It is an inheritance that must be passed on to our offspring. We cannot afford to go back to the state of poverty that will be a burden to the system.

The Co-op. Department has failed to use its authority and to play an integral role to offer constructive guidance and mentoring with a view of retrieving good governance and stability to our society.

We will continue with the struggle until justice prevails.