Struggling to keep fish farm afloat

At the crack of dawn on the average weekday, 70-year-old Alphonso Latchman hurriedly jumps out of bed, gets dressed and heads outside to walk around his roughly 25-acre farm in Bushy Park, on the outskirts of Old Harbour, St Catherine.

It's a labour of love for the farmer who grows a few different crops there and even runs a coop that can house several hundred chickens. His main focus these days, though, is fish farming.

"I got into raising fish a couple of years ago. I've been in farming since the '80s but this is something relatively new that I've got into," said Latchman, walking along a bushy pathway on his farm last week.

Latchman took the leap of faith after carefully considering all the pros and cons involved and after public encouragement from the Government for farmers to go that route.

It's a decision, though, he has come to question.

"It's really frustrating. The main thing is that we can't get a good price for the fish and so the profit is very small. To make things worse, the costs to run the farm keep going up," he said.

Feed cost high

Up to last week, Latchman was selling fish for $110 per pound. He said he couldn't raise the price as that would send his sales south, because his buyer was already claiming he could purchase fish elsewhere at lower cost.

"The cost of the fish feed has skyrocketed. Since last year, the price has jumped from $32,000 to $44,000 per tonne, " he said.

Latchman said he pays $2 per fish to fill the six half-acre ponds on the farm, each of which accommodates 8,000-10,000 fish. He employs six workers and also has to pay for security. It takes eight weeks for the fish to be ready from the point they are first put into the pond. During the maturation period, the farmer often accumulates a $30,000 water bill.

"As you can see, the numbers are clear. After all the expenses, it's really hard to make a profit doing this. You have to really love it," said Latchman.

"The buyers aren't there anymore either. Right now, all of us in Bushy Park are basically down to one buyer who takes a little from each of us," he said.

"It can be very frustrating, but I am a farmer at heart, so I will continue to fight," said Latchman.