THEY have wrestled with one of the wettest summers on record, faced foot and mouth again and regularly complain of low prices and crippling red tape.

Now, the government of Trinidad and Tobago is trying to persuade fed up Hampshire farmers to try their luck on its sun-kissed shores instead.

Bosses of the tropical island paradise are advertising for local farmers to move to the Caribbean and use modern farming methods to develop a slice of 2,227 acres they've put up for grabs.

Industry experts reckon many Hampshire farmers will be tempted by the offer.

Recent months have seen Hampshire farmers protesting about the low price for milk paid by supermarkets (pictured right), the price of fuel and delays in subsidy payments. Meanwhile, prices of rural land are climbing to record highs of £8,649 per hectare, making it a good time to sell up.

Those who make the 4,300-mile journey could find themselves growing exotic crops like sugar, cocoa, bananas and coffee instead of major Hampshire products like corn and rapeseed.

Appalling times David Handley, chairman of Farmers For Action, said: "I think there will be a lot of people locally looking at this as an opportunity. The opportunities here are very restricted.

"We have been through some pretty appalling times and the trouble is our costs are high, our labour requirement is pretty bad in that there's a diminished supply of people who want to work on farms, and our biggest problem is the bureaucracy. That's what's putting up the cost of the food we produce.

"In Trinidad and Tobago you would be in a totally different scenario. If I were ten years younger I'd go myself."

Nerine Singh, of the Trinidad and Tobago government, said: "The existing agricultural sector is predominantly small farms between one and ten acres. The government wants to introduce large farms with a minimum size of 100 acres. The intention is that with these large farms you have some level of mechanisation, which counteracts the lack of labour.

"I think it is a good place to farm and a good place to live, but perhaps I'm biased."