‘Coffee and Jamaica are close to my heart’

For nearly three decades, Donald Berry has put his energy and passion into producing Blue Mountain Coffee, and has had setbacks in the past.

However, with the passage of Hurricane Melissa, he thought long and hard about throwing in the towel after the storm devastated around 65 per cent of his coffee trees and other crops.

The hurricane came at the peak season of reaping when farmers had just started to pick coffee beans to sell the highly regarded brand of coffee to the world.

Now, many coffee farmers are bemoaning the sudden downturn in coffee sales, as the product would have contributed significantly to the economic activities in the height of the holiday season in Portland towns like Buff Bay and the capital, Port Antonio.

The veteran coffee farmer, with 11.2 acres, said he and many others in Springhill would have been reaping at this time if the storm did not wipe out much of their crop.

Berry is not the only small coffee farmer who has felt the wrath of the Category 5 storm, as the catastrophic weather system pummelled agricultural crops in Spring Hill, Portland, and surrounding areas.

When The Gleaner visited the predominantly coffee farming area last week, the farmers complained that the Wray Piece road that leads to Mahoe in the parish remains impassable since the passage of Melissa, with trees and debris blocking at least two sections of the roadway.

This remains a major problem for farmers in Spring Hill and surrounding areas who are unable to use this road to move their produce to Mahoe and other communities.

However, despite the challenges facing Berry, his love affair with coffee and the critical importance of the Blue Mountain brand have given him a renewed zest to stay the course.

“Coffee and Jamaica are close to my heart. When I look at coffee and how it can benefit the country and the communities and people where it is grown with all the spin-off benefits to everyone, I rethink moving on from coffee,” he said.

For Berry, Blue Mountain Coffee is not just a well sought-after brand on the international market but the name resonates with the best that Jamaica has to offer.

‘She didn’t spare anything’

Days before Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica, Berry was trying to put together a team of reapers to help him pick the coffee beans but he was only able to reap 15 boxes.

“When I came on the farm the day after the hurricane and looked at what was on the ground – green, ripe, young – she (Melissa) didn’t spare anything.”

Further, Berry said it was agonising to see his promising three- to five-year-old trees that delivered a healthy crop, battered and uprooted by the angry storm.

Large pine (timber) trees on his property were also pulled up by the force of the wind from the hurricane and dashed across his farm, unleashing severe blows to several coffee trees.

After the passage of the storm, Berry managed to reap only six boxes of coffee beans. The coffee farmer is hoping he will be lucky enough to reap another 15 boxes before the season ends.

Berry had his sights set on reaping around 350 boxes of berries for the entire season. With a box of coffee being sold for $10,000, Berry had expected to earn about $3.5 million before defraying expenses. He also plants green beans and a range of other agricultural crops which help to maintain his cash flow.

“I don’t have the cash flow now because this lady gone with that. The green beans and all the value-added went through the window, so that millions of dollars gone down the drain. so we have to wheel and come again, he said, adding “We need some quick money to put us back on our feet.”

Jimmy Crawford, another coffee farmer in Portland, said his two and a half acres of coffee at Mount Holstein was partially wiped out by the storm. With other coffee farms, including one next to Berry’s property, Crawford said a section of his farm suffered serious water damage during the hurricane.

A river which runs above one of his farms got blocked by debris, sending floodwaters through his house.

“I was so lucky that I was in my bed and when the hurricane blew, it tore off a mango tree and threw it right across the road so it barred the water that was coming down to my house and put it on the parochial road.”

Unlike his neighbour Berry, Crawford said he didn’t get the chance to reap ripe berries before the hurricane hit Jamaica. He averages about 350 boxes per season and said he would be lucky if he can reap anywhere close to 100 boxes.

Fertiliser donation

Last week, the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA) handed over 5,000 bags of fertiliser and other key agricultural inputs valued at $35 million to coffee farmers.

The contribution forms part of a $120-million allocation by the government and the regulatory body for targeted intervention to address one of the most immediate needs in the recovery process, including nutrient restoration and productivity support at the farm level.

The balance of the donation is expected to be rolled out in the first three months of 2026.

While expressing appreciation to JACRA for the initial donation of fertilisers to coffee farmers, Berry said a lot will be required in order for the sector to rebound.

Berry wants a system of crop-lien to be reintroduced locally to allow coffee farmers to get credit before the planting season by borrowing against the value of anticipated harvests.

Further, he is urging the government to provide funding through designated financial institutions at attractive interest rates to farmers or provide grants through an arrangement that binds the farmer to specific output levels.

Looking ahead, Berry told The Gleaner that, if he could get the necessary capital support, he would establish greenhouses to grow cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, among others.

“I have space where I could set up two or three greenhouses and I would prefer to put them in a metal frame so that, if disaster comes, you could slide them off and put the plants on the ground to minimise the damage,” he said.

“In times like these, when the west is in a bad state, we are little ahead of them right now. If we can get the things to go, we can start right now,” he added.

Berry has secured a large water tank and, with the help of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, has installed drip irrigation for cash crops he had planted. Although the hurricane wiped out the crop, he is willing to replant as soon as possible.

With a river flowing below his property, Berry said he has already secured a pump but needs a generator, or one powered by solar energy, to move water from the river to irrigate the farmlands in the area.

Berry said he wants farmers in the eastern end of the island to be treated like their colleagues in the southern and western belts of the country.

“We are in the system together and, I can assure you, when we have the right output, the prices will stabilise and that will be good for the housewives, the local producers, the restaurants and hoteliers,” he reasoned.

He said coffee farmers in Spring Hill and other areas need an auger digger, a piece of equipment that penetrates the soil quickly and allows them to plant new trees speedily.

Overall, the coffee industry had projected a harvest of about 270,000 boxes of coffee for the 2025 to 2026 crop. Approximately 100,000 boxes of coffee had been lost as a result of extensive damage to coffee trees. For the entire sector, farm gate losses alone amounted to $1 billion.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com