St Mary farmer harvests hope for jobless youth
Published:Tuesday | July 20, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer
Cyril Chambers, a hard-as-nails farmer who has weathered the vagaries of a tough economy, is a firm believer that agriculture is the lifeblood of rural Jamaica.
Though his four-acre farm in Carron Hall, St Mary, may be small potatoes compared to large-scale cultivators with vast swathes of meadow or undulating hillside, Chambers' modest plantation has literally been a feeding tree for young men in the community.
"I think farming is a good way to ease the problems of unemployment, providing for the table of all, so there is a holistic benefit," said Chambers, who kick-started the Carron Hall venture in 1984.
"When I started here, Irish potato was my main crop. However, over time, my farm became more diverse," Chambers told The Gleaner.
The cultivator grows tomatoes, as well as sweet and hot peppers, in a greenhouse, a low-tech-nology, high-productivity agricultural option which has been touted for its economies of scale. He also plants plots of tomato, sweet corn, cabbage, pump-kin and about two acres of dasheen.
Chambers said he will be ready in two months to supply both the local and export market.
Idea germinated in classroom
Chambers' journey into full-scale agriculture started some 30 years ago. He graduated from the Jamaica School of Agriculture in 1970 with a diploma in agriculture. Over a decade later, he enrolled at the College of Arts, Science and Technology (now University of Technology), attaining a diploma in marketing in 1983.
His youthful staff, like 19-year-old Javon Kidd, have caught his vision of cultivating not only crops, but a positive work ethic.
"It is hard work, but it really helps, as work isn't easy to get. Farming is what we live by, so we are learning from Mr C. It's all good, man," said Kidd of his mentor, while transplanting tomato seedlings.
For Chambers, such adulation is proof enough that farming is vital to Carron Hall's survival.
"I love farming and that is why I continue to help the youths, some of whom have gone on to do their own businesses," Chambers said, with a bright smile.