Farmers await improvements to agri roads
Published:Thursday | January 13, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer
Selvin Davids is just one farmer who cannot wait for the agricultural farm-road improve-ment to begin in the Moy Hall district in St Thomas.
At least 15 communities within a 10-mile radius of the district are expected to benefit from the newly launched multimillion-dollar farm rehabilitation project.
The project, spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with the National Works Agency and funded by the European Union, will be addressing storm damage inflicted on various communities across the island following Tropical Storm Gustav in 2008.
"The road is really bad. It needs some retaining walls and it's just," he said, his voice trailing off, "it's just bad."
Davids has been farming for more than 50 years and has dabbled in the production of other crops such as plantain, scallion and thyme before branching out into coffee.
His farm, way up in the Blue Mountains, yields roughly 5,000 boxes of coffee between nine and 12 months.
Production boost expected
Clement Batiste, parish coordinator of the Social Development Com-mission, said he was expecting that production would be boosted by at least 30 per cent once the road has been completed.
"There is no economy beyond coffee and other cash crops. Access will improve production signi-ficantly," said Batiste, who noted that farming in the mountains is very manual and transportation is key.
The farm-road rehabilitation project, estimated to cost US$1.9 million (J$161.2 million), is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and expected to create approximately 200 new jobs across Jamaica.
The roadwork is expected to be completed by March 31 and will include drainage and surface improvement, along with retaining-wall construction.
Ten roads in the parishes of Portland, Clarendon, Hanover, St Elizabeth, St Andrew and St Thomas are expected to benefit from this expenditure.
"We do have challenges as they relate to accessing our critical farms and taking produce from those farms to market," said Dr Christopher Tufton, minister of agriculture, during a signing ceremony at his office in Hope Gardens, St Andrew, yesterday.
Challenges are not new to the St Thomas parish, as farmers in communities such as Penlyne Castle, Cedar Valley and Trinityville, to name a few, have been experiencing ongoing difficulties accessing farms, the markets and the Coffee Industry Board in St Andrew.
"The roads were selected based on economic improvement resulting from their construction because it would provide ease of access for farmers to their respective farms and communities," Tufton said.