APPROXIMATELY 150 farmers whose crops were wiped out by a recent bush fire in Richmond Gap, St Thomas say it will be months before they will be able to earn an income from what has been their sole means of survival.

Mangoes, apples, ackees, bananas, plantains, pimento, coffee, carrots and several other crops were all destroyed by the scorching heat when fire ravaged the hillside farming community two weeks ago.

Not only has their mainstay gone up in smoke, but the farmers say the devastation will affect consumers as they have no produce to sell in the markets.

According to the farmers, any crops they plant now will not be ready for weeks, leaving them with nothing to live on until then.

They also expressed concern that there are some fruit trees that will not survive because of how badly scorched they are and, even if they are replaced, will take years to mature.

As a community that relies solely on farming, the residents say they have nothing with which to feed themselves and their livestock.

Instead of being in the fields on the cool Thursday morning last week when the Jamaica Observer visited the community, a group of despondent farmers were gathered in the square pondering their next move.

According to the farmers, on a regular Thursday they would be preparing produce for the weekly trip to Coronation Market in Kingston.

“Wi used to be able to eat what we plant and when wi ready wi could sell the banana and yam and use the money fi buy rice and flour; now we don’t have anything,” said farmer Veronica Bryan.

She said she lost three acres of cultivation and would also have lost her house had she not been at home.

“Now wi nuh have no mango, no soursop, not even a banana fi go cut and sell,” she lamented.

The farmers say the bush fire has also left their livestock without any grass for feeding, forcing them to fork out thousands of dollars to buy processed feed for them.

“Wi used to have the mangoes to feed the goats, but now wi don’t have any and there is nowhere to tie them to feed, so I have to buy bag feed for $1,750 a bag,” farmer Myrtle Coleman explained.

Coleman said she lost her entire farm as well as nine goats and a donkey which were burnt to death. Those that survived are injured, having been scorched by the flames when they were trapped in a pen.

“It really carry mi way down, because mi lose everything,” said a distraught Coleman. “Even if the farm did gone and mi coulda sell two goat it wouldn’t be so bad.”

According to Coleman, some of the goats that died could each have been sold for as much as $30,000.

But despite her loss, Coleman has much to be thankful for as her husband, Constantine Hibbert, narrowly escaped being burnt to death after he became trapped by the raging inferno.

Hibbert explained that he had just tied his donkey to a nearby tree and had gone further into the valley to get produce when he was suddenly surrounded by flames.

“When mi look up and see the fire wi already surrounded by it and when mi run go to where mi tie the donkey it already burn up and so mi start to run, but mi had to find another way out because fire cover the whole area,” he recounted.

Hibbert said by the time he arrived at the goat pen below his house, the majority of them were already dead.

Another female farmer, 70-year-old Elsie Roberts, said this was the worst bush fire she had ever seen since living in the farming community almost all her life.

The senior citizen said she was just getting ready to reap St Julian mangoes and carrots for sale when they went up in smoke.

“I lost everything,” Roberts said, adding, “It is so hard, but we don’t have a choice but to just try to pick up back the pieces.”

The farmers say they are not throwing up their hands in the air as they have begun cutting some of the scorched branches from fruit trees in the hope that the trees will be able to grow when the rains begin.

“But we can’t get back on our foot alone because even my fork burn up, so if we could get some tools,” Roberts said, adding that even if they can find a labourer to help they might not often have the required tools.

Farmer Ephraim Tate said he had to stand helplessly and watch the fire destroy his 1,000 coffee plants, having only recently undergone two surgeries.

“Mi couldn’t do nutten because mi sick, and so mi just had to watch everything go up in flames,” he said, shaking his head.

The senior citizen said he wants to rebuild his farm but is unable to do so unless he receives some help, given that his entire livelihood has been wiped out.

“If mi get some coffee sucker and fertiliser I would replant, or even a little bit of money to be able to get a day worker to help me,” he said.

He noted that it will be months before anything planted now will come to maturity and until then they are at a loss as to how they will survive.

Vivian Grant said nothing is left of his two-acre farm on which he planted coffee and other crops such as gungo peas and broad beans.

“Vendors would come and buy things from mi, and mi also use to go to the market myself, but now mi nuh have nutten. Mi had to stand helplessly and watch everything burn down,” he said.

Grant said they would welcome assistance in the form of plant materials and fertiliser as well as some start-up capital to be able to hire day labourers to plant seeds in time for the rainy season and rebuild terraces on the hillsides.

Sydney Markland said he lost an acre and a half of coffee, banana and cane as well as lumber trees.

“The apples would be ready by next month and now, all that is left is brown trees,” he said, pointing to the numerous scorched trees.

Another farmer, Theophulus McKenzie, said he lost nearly 400 coffee plants which were about ready to be reaped.

“Farming is all wi have to live by, and now that the time is also dry we don’t even know how wi going to manage,” he said.

Gordon Johnson said having lost all his coffee, banana and cane he is now trying to plant “a little carrot and just hoping for the rain to come so they can grow”.

Zepheniah McKenzie said his three acres of coffee were just bearing when they went up in smoke along with banana, plantain and other fruit trees.

“Wi just living by mercy right now because everything gone,” he said.

Councillor Marsha Francis, who brought the farmers’ plight to the Observer, appealed to both the private sector and Government for assistance.

“These are hard-working people who don’t sit and wait on handouts from politicians. When they ask for anything it is usually for seedlings and plant supplies and not for liquor,” she explained.