NEW FOREST, Manchester — For the second time in less than three months farmers in south Manchester have been left reeling after days of heavy and persistent rain earlier this week.

The farmers in New Forest, Logwood and surrounding areas near the south Manchester/south St Elizabeth border say their Christmas crop plans are not hopeful.

“Farmers just plant new fields for Christmas and the water uplift the mulch. I think most of the farmers like myself been walking picking up the pieces and collecting back whatever mulch and plant and try to put them back in place and hope that it will be a start on the road to recovery,” New Forest farmer Conrad Murray told the
Jamaica Observer on Thursday, a day after flood waters inundated his fields of thyme, scallion and callaloo.

“We still in a bad spot, because we were just recovering from [Hurricane] Beryl. Beryl came mostly for the houses, but this storm now came with rains and visited the farms. It impacted the farms much more than the hurricane, because the hurricane damaged roofs,” he said.

“The wind damaged a few things, but this time the amount of water we got would actually do more damage than before. Some plants can manage the wind, but when the water come and flood the place, it actually waterlog the plant and take away the nutrients and the plant will struggle to bounce back,” added Murray.

He pointed to Agriculture Minister Floyd Green’s comments that farmers were recovering from Hurricane Beryl which hit sections of the island on July 3.

Green told a post-Cabinet media briefing on Wednesday that following the devastation to the agricultural sector in July the island is returning quickly to pre-Hurricane Beryl production levels, and this should result in a surge in supply from various production areas.

Murray said he hopes the minister’s prediction is right.

“I don’t want to downplay anything that minister has been saying. He said we will be okay. Let us hope so… A picture tells a thousand words and by going through the agro-park area you will observe the damage done with roads affected, canal cut through people’s farms,” he said.

Another farmer, Kesna Strong, said the rain affected his scallion crop.

“Even though you might see the scallion stand up same way them push up out of the ground. My farm here, it cost me about $230,000 to get it to where it was, so I know I have to spend about $60,000 to get it rehabilitated. I never budget for that. I have plot where I should be moving onto now, so it a go set me back,” he said.

“We have to just pick up the bits and pieces and move again,” he added.

Paul Whittingham, who operates a neighbouring farm to Strong’s in the New Forest agro-park, told a similar story of devastation.

“We under losses now and, as a family man, Christmas deh on pon we, we don’t know what to go plant back here now to make back a money for the Christmas. You have to just say now is October and everything that we plant it takes about three months,” said Whittingham.

A few kilometres south of New Forest, Everald Barnes, a farmer at Rowes Corner, said his Christmas plans are in limbo.

“It rough, because the water went through everything. Right now is thyme I am planting back… I doesn’t look so good for this Christmas. Probably January before we get a good reaping,” he said.

Davian Newman, a farmer in the neighbouring area of Logwood, pointed to a trench created by flood waters in his field.

“Water wash right through the scallion, it made a big trench. Apart from that I didn’t get that much damage like some other farmers. It will cost me to plant about 700 scallions all over and to buy back pipe fitting for irrigation,” he said.

His neighbours, Sheron Hylton and Raymond Wright, claimed farmers in the area have been neglected due to political victimisation.

“We mash up. We give God thanks that we have life. Hurricane Beryl mash we up and we never get any help. People just a come a take you name and a set down this and that. A bulldozer we haffi go get to just grade off over deh suh,” said Hylton.

“Fertiliser give out and we didn’t get any. If they say they are RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) and fertiliser giving out, you should announce it to the farmers,” added Hylton.

Wright called on RADA to improve its distribution system.

“One time they usually call from round by the water office. If is even a pound of flour you get phone call. Now, no phone call nuh gwan again, you only hear say something come, if you nuh red, green or pink,” he said in reference to political affiliation.

“It shouldn’t be that way, if you are going to give green, you should give red too. Everybody can’t be the same,” added Wright.