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Earth Today | Clarendon farmers, residents benefit from five-year climate project

Published:Thursday | December 30, 2021 | 12:06 AM
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Students of Top Alston Primary School look at one of the fish tanks of the newly launched aquaponics system, courtesy of the AP&FM.
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Students of Top Alston Primary School look at one of the fish tanks of the newly launched aquaponics system, courtesy of the AP&FM.
Patrick Blair examines a sweet pepper grown in his farmer’s group greenhouse in Boghole, Clarendon.
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Patrick Blair examines a sweet pepper grown in his farmer’s group greenhouse in Boghole, Clarendon.
Farmers in the Upper Rio Minho Watershed area erect live barriers on a farm under the AP&FM project.
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Farmers in the Upper Rio Minho Watershed area erect live barriers on a farm under the AP&FM project.
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FARMERS AND other residents of the Upper Rio Minho Watershed (URMW) area of Clarendon have benefited from a range of interventions under the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism (AP&FM) for the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience.

Earlier this month, the five-year project hosted a milestone ceremony to mark the achievement of activities over its lifetime.

Those activities included water management and conservation in the URMW, such as:

· The introduction of 1,800 Multiple Interceptions for Climate Resilience Optimisation (MICRO) Check Dam to reduce soil erosion and flooding risk;

· 49 600-gallon tanks given to 49 farmers as a part of the AP&FM’s COVID grant;

· 88 public/community sites supplied with water tanks; and

· The rehabilitation of two rainwater ponds in two communities (Recklands and Bog Hole), as well as the supply of 100 rainwater irrigation kits.

CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE

Work has also been done in the area of climate-smart agriculture, including:

· The installation of six aquaponics systems in Alston, Aenon Town, Ritchies, Johns Hall, James Hill, and Rock Primary and Infant School; as well as:

· The construction of six green/shade houses in Bog Hole – two on Curly Elliot Road and one on Chocolate Road, at the Bustamante High School, at the Central Jamaica Social Development Initiative and at the Clarendon Municipal Corporation.

Farmers were also trained in aquaponics and greenhouse farming.

Food processing and agro-processing were also addressed under the programme, including:

· The establishment or rehabilitation of five post-harvest storage and processing facilities;

· The repair and equipping of facilities to process up to 5,000 pounds of mixed legumes and tubers per week under the Social Development Initiative; and

· The upgrade of solar- and wind-power generation, pig waste to energy conversion, and lighting for chicken and pig-rearing units, among other things, at Knox Community College.

The AP&FM also saw the cultivation of 15 hectares of forest in Pennants, with 3,000 timber plants by the Northern Rio Minho Local Forest Management Committee Ltd in Reckford; and work done with The University of the West Indies Climate Studies Group on the Crop (and Livestock) Resilience & Suitability Modelling Programme.

The AP&FM has now concluded its activities in the URMW, with Climate Change Minister Pearnel Charles Jr lauding the project for the work done.