St Bess farmer finds way to conquer drought

George Henry, Gleaner Writer

FOR YEARS, St Elizabeth farmers, especially those who do agriculture in the southern belt of that parish, have been faced with serious water woes and losses in revenue as a result mainly of drought conditions, despite loud calls for assistance in addressing the serious situation.

One farmer who has stopped calling on the authorities for such assistance, and who has become independent while harnessing his own water supply in a non-traditional way, is well-known vegetable farmer Kingsley Palmer.

On a recent visit to Palmer's farm at Munro District, The Gleaner learned that, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire water for the replenishing of his many crops for decades, he has conquered that problem.

Palmer showed The Gleaner team a new, cost-effective and most efficient way of acquiring water for his crops, ridding himself of his annual headaches as he seeks to assist in the feeding of the nation.

He related that a few months ago he decided that he would enter into the harvesting of water, but would do so by constructing a tunnel greenhouse and a man-made pond. The tunnel house, which is a bit different from those greenhouses which we have become accustomed to over recent years, is constructed in a way that it is not fully enclosed, but is equipped with water channels to take water into the man-made pond whenever it rains.

"The tunnel house is a bit different from the traditional greenhouses in that the sides are opened and it allows more ventilation; but is basically of the same concept as the greenhouse. It is protective agriculture really," explained Palmer.

Capacity

Unlike the ordinary greenhouses where whenever it rains the water goes to waste, all the water that falls on the tunnel house runs off into the channels and then into the man-made pond. And as if he is not collecting enough water from that source, Palmer paves the area around his house so that water which runs off the roof and falls on the ground runs along the pavement into a gutter and into the pond which, according to him, has the capacity to store more than 200,000 gallons of water.

"I do not think I will ever have a problem with water again, because I am using water efficiently by the use of the drip system. Once a few gallons of the water go down, then it is replenished by the rainfall," explained Palmer; adding that the excavated area, which is lined with plastic, cost him over $600,000.

Of that figure, $25,000 was spent on excavation work and the remainder represents the cost of finding the plastic. He is recommending that Government provide a subsidy on the cost of the plastic by removing GCT so that more farmers can be able to construct ponds similar to his and have better access to water for their crops by way of water harvesting.

When the water is collected in the pond, it is then pumped into a number of black tanks and is fed through a recently installed system that mixes it with fertiliser, before it filters through a 'fertigation system' as it fertilises and irrigates his vegetable crops.

Palmer explained that, although he is well known for producing tomatoes in greenhouses, he has decided to diversify by going into the production of lettuce and cabbage in the tunnel house. He added that a lot of farmers are producing tomatoes and that he has to get into the niche market by producing romaine lettuce and purple cabbage, especially for the hotel industry.

"Romaine lettuce is different from the traditional lettuce where you have the iceberg lettuce and the spike lettuce. With the romaine lettuce, I can reap within four weeks; but with the other lettuce, it will take six weeks," said Palmer.