Nigel Leavy, president of the Plantain Gardens Farmers Co-operative (PGFC) in eastern St Thomas, says that the members are doing their part to reinvent and re-ignite economic activity in a place that many Jamaicans consider to be the "back a beyond".
He told the Jamaica Observer, "They call St Thomas the forgotten parish. One time we depended on sugar and The Eastern Banana Company. Both are gone now. In the east we have nothing else creating employment. The task we are taking on is to see how much we can take on the task of creating it."
"We are developing the east as a new food basket. The land is fertile. We have water. We are working with all the stakeholders and even engaging investors around setting up agro-processing. We are building from the ground up to a new level."
Leavy's own experience of farming and overcoming the challenges faced by the small farmer is being used to help over 100 others who have come under the wings of the PGFC
The St Thomas native told the Business Observer that he was born into farming and remembers life on the farm from the stage of a toddler. His mother was a farmer and he assisted her even while attending school.
Leavy is today a former employee of the Eastern Banana Estate where he worked as a supervisor. He was made redundant after 2005 when a hurricane destroyed the property.
With the proceeds of his redundancy payment, he started looking for land to buy and in 2008 found five acres to lease in Springfield in Morant Bay, St Thomas. However, that venture did not last long.
The land was expensive as well, costing $2,000 per acres every month, irrespective of how the farmer fared. Leavey planted csotch bonnet pepper, pumpkin, banana and plantain but abandoned that project in 2010 when the lease was increased. He recalls, "We also began to experience a high level of praedial larceny."
The farmer leased another five acres in Hector's River. However, the land was close to the river and in a rainy year, the farm was flooded. After trying cucumber, pumpkin, callaloo, pak choi, this farm was abandoned.
In 2012 Leavy came under the Plantain Gardens group which was made up of farmers who leased land from the Agro-Investment Corporation (AIC), a GOvernment entity which controlled the Plantain Gardens Agropark. The farmers first tried ginger, but the effort failed. Leavy did not give up, however, and continued to farm on the property even though leases were not renewed.
Life took a turn for the better when in 2013 the farmers were given new leases and also, in time, got marketing support from the AIC. The farmer recalls, "The soil was good. We started farming the land. We started out at $2,000 per acre per year as rental. It is now $4,500 per acre per year."
Leavy had five acres under his control then, but today is responsible for 17 acres, most of which is dedicated to growing pepper, which are purchased under contract by GraceKennedy Limited and other agro-processors. Five acres are dedicated to pumpkin and five to cassava. Other crops grown are seasonal crops such onions, plantains, and pineapple. Leavy shared, "The pepper is constant cash. It is planted for seven or nine months depending on the type and is sold every week. Pepper is ready for reaping after three and a half months.
The co-operative of farmers use their inflow of cash from pepper to cover their main costs which include $100,000 paid weekly to eight workers. Other crops are irregular sources of income and subject to gluts, because they are the cheaper crops in which many small farmers invest to get quick returns.
Leavy commented, "Coming into farming you need cash to invest. For one acre of pepper, just starting, you need $800,000 to purchase irrigation hose, more for plowing, seedlings and to pay workmen. Then you wait 3.5 months before reaping. For young entrants it is really challenging now. We started in the earlier days when things weren't that expensive. We built up ourselves – buying more irrigation hose overtime, adding short crops, adding infrastructure. For someone coming into the business now, however, it's challenging. If they can't get a loan they will have to partner with someone else."
Marketing
Leavy said that marketing remains a constant headache for farmers, primarily due to small farmers who do cash crops like pumpkin and tomatoes. "Sometimes when you finish you find out there is a glut on the market and you have to sell for less than production cost. You have to sell for a low price, or just break even
"When you have a contract you have a specific price based on the cost of production. That is viable.
For more information check out this link
https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/reconstructing-an-economy/
Please share your feedback below and help us improve our content.