Pomona Farmers Clash with Area Rep Over Land Rights

We’re back in Pomona tonight, where a new land dispute is stirring up serious tension. This time, it’s not just about land, it’s about livelihoods, and it’s personal. Several farmers say they’re now at an impasse with Stann Creek West’s Area Rep Rodwell Ferguson. These farmers claim they’ve spent years working the land in the mountains, clearing it, planting crops, building roads, even putting up homes. But now? They say they’re being pushed out. Some are facing threats, others say their property has been destroyed. News Five’s Tanya Arceo spoke with five of these farmers. They say they’ve got the paperwork to back up their claims, but instead of getting answers, they’re getting silence, police visits, and overlapping land titles. Here’s Tanya with their story.

 

Tanya Arceo, Reporting

Several farmers in the area say they’re now locked in a tense standoff, not with a developer or a private company, but with their own area representative, Minister Rodwell Ferguson. These farmers claim they’ve poured years of hard work into the land, clearing it, planting crops, building roads, even putting up homes. But now, they say they’re facing eviction, threats, and even destruction of their property.

 

Aldon Tasher, Farmer and Landowner

“Myself and four other farmers we put our little resources together and construct this road this road have about one point two or one point three miles long as we go a little bit farther if you can look from here you can see that you have to literally climb a hill so we actually had to bulldoze three hills to get on the property. Myself and the other farmers we have a huge problem with Rodwell Fergurson Senior and Junior from twenty-twenty one actually, we been through a whole lotta stuff actually what have happened in twenty-twenty one we got a permission to construct this road from MIDH and that’s what we have done you know so while constructing the road we once you constructing a road you have to pile up the logs and whatever it is found on the road so we piled of all the logs and stuff while constructing the road and at the same time we decided to go into the forestry department to get  a license to basically sell the land so that could help us with the cost of the road however Rodwell Ferguson Senior and his son took all the logs away from us all the logs its about three hundred thousand worth of log.”

 

In addition to the three landowners, we heard from earlier, News Five also spoke with two more farmers who say they’re facing the exact same issue. They, too, have land up in the mountain, land they’ve worked and developed, now reportedly taken away without warning.

 

Harrison Roches, Farmer

“I get the land from Cordell Hyde he gave me the land with permission to survey and we were there but when I was about to work on a couple things on the land  they took police inspector came and look fu crucify me because I was going on the land I was traveling to the land from twenty-twenty before anyone these guys know that I had a house on the land they went and they burned down the house I had plants on the land they burn down my plants and one time they dodge me to kill me just like what they do him but thank God I know a lot of stuff because I am an ex police officer also.”

 

 

Linden Kelly, Farmer

“Many times we try to go to the property and he bring police and we try to go report it and certain officers don’t want to take our report yet  they can go to the station make a report against us cause I’ve been locked up for trespassing on our own property so when I call my family to bring the papers they are like release him release him. One time they tell me that the land is unsurvey able because of the mountain terrain so we went back again now we are overlapping other people application and we want to know where they come from we check their names and these names pop up everywhere on Mr. Tasher side on our side Mr. Tasher is on this side and we are on the other side of the mountain.”

 

In December 2024, Linden hit another roadblock, someone else applied for the same land he’s been trying to secure. Since then, he says he’s been getting the runaround from both the minister and the lands commissioner. At one point, he was offered a different plot, but he turned it down. Harrison’s story is nearly identical. He was also offered another piece of land but refused, saying he was born and raised in Pomona and that’s where he belongs. Both men say they have official documents from Minister Cordel Hyde, including NES numbers and letters granting them permission to survey the land. But when they followed up, they discovered their land titles were overlapping with other NES numbers, ones they claim didn’t even exist when they first applied. Reporting for News Five, I’m Tanya Arceo.