George Henry, Gleaner WriterSPALDINGS, Clarendon:
Recent increases in the price of important agricultural inputs is said to be having a negative effect on the level of yam production in sections of Manchester, especially among small farmers.
A visit to the yam producing community of Craig Head by Farmers Weekly, on Thursday, revealed that small farmers who have become accustomed to growing several acres of tubers, have started to cut back, due mainly to the high cost of inputs.
According to Gramps Bailey, a small farmer at Craig Head for more than twenty years and who is well known for planting thousands of hills of yellow yams, in particular, since entering the farming business, this is the worse year he has ever experienced.
"The increase in the price of inputs such as fertilisers and other important chemicals that I use in my fields, has really forced me to cut back on the amount of crops I am used to cultivate. I have been forced to reduce the number of hills of yam I had become accustomed to planting per year", said Mr. Bailey.
The experienced farmer, who told Farmers Weekly that he has more than one yam plantation and who was busy providing sticks for his more than three thousand hills of yam when Farmers Weekly visited him in his field, pointed out that the increase, especially in the price of fertiliser, has resulted in him having to take a serious look at whether or not he should continue in yam cultivation.
PRICE HIKES
Mr. Bailey pointed out that he was accustomed to using about fifteen bags of 14-28-14 fertiliser, but due to the recent hike in its price, he has been forced to reduce that amount to only six bags, as he was unable to find enough money to purchase them.
"The price is too high and the farm stores as well as the government need to have the price reduced in order for us, as yam farmers, to continue cultivating", said Bailey.
He added that he now has to be paying up to $1000 for each bag of the fertiliser for his yams, up from the $600 he was paying prior to the increase in the price a few months ago.
Mr. Bailey stated that the huge jump of $400 on each bag of 14-28-14 fertiliser was not healthy for not only him, but also for other farmers who use the chemical in other crops, and that such a move was only discouraging many of his colleagues from continuing in what they enjoy doing.
The farmers noted also that many yam farmers have been forced to utilise lighter fertilisers, such as Sulphate of Ammonia, which according to Mr. Bailey, is not the correct chemical to use on yams, as what it does is only to assist in the production of leaves to make the yam plants green and pretty.
SMALL FARMERS
He also stated that many small farmers, who are not experienced in the yam business, are using that type of fertiliser because it is much cheaper, but it is not as effective as 14-28-14 in boosting production.
Other inputs, which Mr. Bailey uses and which according to him are now out of the reach of the small farmer, include, Diathene, weedicide and pesticide.
Ainsley Phillips, yam farmer from Craig Head, said he too has been having a difficult time producing yams since the hike in the price of inputs.
Mr. Phillips told Farmers Weekly that he too has been forced to cut back on the amount of fertiliser he uses, due to the high cost. Not only has he been forced to cut back on the number of bags he purchases, but also he has to hire fewer persons to work in his fields.
Mr. Phillips said, because he was no longer able to afford to purchase the amount of chemicals to boost his production of yams, he has been forced to search woodlands for mulch, to make up for the shortfall.
Messers Bailey and Phillips and a number of their colleagues are calling on the government for some form of assistance to help in defraying the high cost of important inputs. They said government needed to provide some form of subsidy, so that the price of these inputs can be reduced.
