Barrow Tells G.O.B. To Disburse Financial Aid to Toledo Farmers

Leader of the Opposition Moses “Shyne” Barrow says that farmers in Toledo District are desperately in need of assistance. Barrow told the media that he spent the weekend down south where he met with numerous farmers who are facing financial constraints after wildfires destroyed their crops. On Thursday, Prime Minister John Briceño announced that an initial one million dollars in aid will be made available to those families that are affected. Barrow says that much needed relief has been slow in coming.

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“I met with several small farmers and they have reported tens of thousands of dollars in loses in their cacao and corn and this impacts them tremendously, cant pay school fees, cant put food on the table, cant deal with medical expenses. One farmer his wife severely ill, the other farmer his daughter now cant pay to get her diploma. These things have real time ramifications. The government have to do better in having an emergency response policy. The prime minister has said there is a contingency fund so that money needs to be disbursed. What I said in the honorable house is when we had COVID there were social media posting directing the populace as to where to go to get relief. Where can the people in Toledo district go to get relief? It is not forthcoming. So we urge the government to act now, to make that information readily available. And I recommend that the same way we have a million dollars given tot eh farmers in the north, there should be some type of emergency fund made available to the farmers in Toledo district that have lost their crops to the wildfires.”