Farmers prepping to combat next year’s water woes
Published:Saturday | October 3, 2020 | 12:11 AM
Disheartened by the damage recent heavy rains have done to farm roads and crops, farmers in Chudleigh, Manchester, are seeking support to put them in a better position to ride out next year’s drought period.
Bryan Reid, who is leading the charge, has been cultivating on the multicrop farm for more than 35 years.
He told The Gleaner that if farmers are able to get a better harvest in the drought period, it would help to reduce the overall fallout should any additional disaster strike in the wet period as it did last month.
“The recent heavy rains washed away some of the land, blow down the yams, and cut a lot of trenches in the land. I lost about $500,000, but I’m picking up the pieces and going again,” said Reid, adding that it is the worst he has seen.
He has started to dig a pond to serve a number of farmers in dry times, but he is seeking assistance from the agricultural authorities and corporate Jamaica to secure a pond liner.
Reid said that the pond would greatly alleviate the water problems they experience during droughts and would also harvest rainwater, especially during the rainy season.
“We have a water catchment up top – a big tank. It just want a little repair. We need some help on that,” he added.
When The Gleaner toured farms in Chudleigh on Thursday, Reid and six hired staff were reaping carrots, and though the harvest is good, he said the market price was weak.
Turning to the water problem, he said that the gutters were recently overwhelmed by the recent heavy rainfall.
“When we were preparing the land, we make a gutter at the top and come right around it (carrot farm), but the water is so [much] til it make a different gutter by itself. It took away the middle part of the field because of the heavy rain,” Reid said as he surveyed his losses.
He pointed out that during normal periods of rainfall, the run-off follows the established channel.
Clifford Gayle, who plants mainly cabbage on a quarter-acre plot adjacent to Reid’s farm, also suffered damage from the heavy, sustained rains.
“About 500 sucker wash weh, and this plot have 1,500 in total,” he said in a soft tone.
Gayle said his losses cannot be tallied, but he was happy that his yam field was not affected.
Still, they have to battle another problem as the soil from the farm roads was also washed away, exposing large stones, which now make their journey to and from the field by vehicle more difficult.