“He Doesn’t Know Much About Agriculture”, Minister of Agriculture on Opposition Leader

We also asked Minister Mai for his thoughts on the Leader of the Opposition’s recent trip to a carrot farm in San Carlos Village in the Orange Walk District. Following his visit, Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow accused Minister Mai of allowing local carrots to rot in the field by approving import license for Mexican carrots. Well, Minister Mai says Barrow does not know much about agriculture. Mai contends that the carrot field visited by Barrow had been abandoned by the farmer. Here is how he puts it.

Abelardo Mai

Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“As far as I knows, as far as the Ministry knows, there was no carrot rot in the field. There was none. I think the media went out there and did the verification themselves. If that was happening, I would have been the first to know, because farmers would call. They would call. Where I saw the Leader of the Opposition in the field with grown carrots, that carrot farmer is a Mennonite and he planted carrots but it did not thin out. Thin out means when you planted carrots there are seeds that fall closely together. The farmers go back out into the field when their product starts to grow and you thin out the field so that the carrots can grow. That I understand from technicians was never done, so you had carrots of different sizes on the field. The Mennonite saw that and he abandoned the field. I am not good for this, he is good a producing corn. So he abandoned it and that was the field visited by the Leader of the Opposition and a lady in Orange Walk South. I been in the field a number of times after that and I have not seen a carrot rot.”

Paul Lopez

“I gather that you are saying that he was disingenuous in his report from his visit?”

Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“I think that he doesn’t know much about agriculture. I am saying this from a truthful perspective. I don’t think he understand agriculture. When you don’t know agriculture you make comments like that. But those who know agriculture when they see the video they say oh this is an abandoned field”