Ginger revival - Farmer says Clarendon greenhouse represents hope for the spice

George Henry, Gleaner Writer

Astley Swazey has been a farmer from a tender age. He has been planting several crops at Top Alston in Clarendon, including ginger, pepper and scallion.

He says ginger cultivation is no easy work.

"It is a very hard work planting ginger, but it can be made easy if you know the technique in planting the crop. The difficulty in the planting of ginger is when you cannot get the assistance you require in planting it. It is highly labour intensive and it takes a lot of cash to have it planted," explained Swazey.

The ginger farmer, who currently plants over an acre and a half of the crop, said ginger has been hit by a mysterious disease which causes it to rot in the fields.

However, a greenhouse for the planting of ginger, which was constructed at Top Alston in the parish, has given farmers hope of brighter farming prospects.

"I believe that ginger will be re-elevated and in this area. I really want it to be elevated because I plant a lot of ginger; and I know other farmers who are big cultivators of the crop," said Swazey.

Rescuing spice

He noted that farmers from Alston, Silent and Moravia are currently cultivating a lot of the spice, and is of the view that because it has been through much struggle over many years, they (ginger farmers) should be given much assistance, as efforts are being made by them to have ginger brought back on a large scale.

Swazey said if the Jamaican ginger crop was not taken up seriously, the production could limp along for many years to come, and the country would not get the full benefit from the crop which it used to export on a large scale.

Swazey said the setting up of a greenhouse at Top Alston last year, specifically for the planting of new ginger, is a step in the right direction, as efforts are being made to get production on the way for export and for the local market.

He stressed that ginger farmers in his part of Jamaica have incurred losses running into millions of dollars over the years, and he was happy that significant strides were being made to stop the haemorrhaging.

"I welcome this new effort being made to get us back on track and to have fresh ginger planted in the area, so that we can get back to where we were in ginger production 15 to 20 years ago," Swazey said.