St Bess farmer hails $50m road project

WESTERN BUREAU:

A St Elizabeth farmer has hailed a $50-million farm road improvement project in his community as a significant investment in the future of farmers and their families.

Aslyn Parchment, who cultivates melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, cantaloupes, honeydew, beetroot, peanuts and Scotch bonnet peppers in Newcombe Valley, Pedro Plains, St Elizabeth, recalls growing up watching his father and brother struggle to keep the farm road passable.

“I grew up seeing my father and my brother using a sledgehammer, breaking rock for vehicles to access the farm, because those days the vehicles were very low, so there was a problem to reach our farm,” Parchment told The Gleaner on Wednesday.

“But now it smooth, and we have to be thankful,” he said, referring to the upgraded roadway, which now provides easy access to his farm.

Parchment said the road, officially opened by Agriculture Minister Floyd Green yesterday, would deliver benefits beyond agriculture, particularly for children in the community.

“It’s an opportunity for us as farmers, but not only for the farmers but for our children going to school. It’s an investment for them. In the long run, when we are gone, this road will still be here,” he said.

He also commended Green and the relevant authorities for delivering on a long-standing promise to rehabilitate the roadway.

“It’s been a long time coming. We have been lobbying, lobbying, and we have asked. He has promised, and now he has delivered,” Parchment said of the 550-metre road.

Completed under last year’s farm road programme, the road now serves about 38 hectares of cultivation, including farms producing watermelons, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers and other crops. It will also benefit livestock farmers raising goats and broiler chickens.

Green said the Government was increasing investment in farm roads across Jamaica to improve access to farms and boost agricultural production.

“St Elizabeth is without doubt the breadbasket of Jamaica. What the farmers of St Elizabeth have shown us is that, if you give them the support, they’ll do more. If you give them the support, they will continue to expand their production,” he said.

Poor farm roads

Poor farm roads have long been among the challenges facing farmers, Green said, particularly when transporting inputs to farms and produce to market.

“One of those challenges has been our farm roads. We know the road network is essential if you are going to expand production,” he said, noting that more than $900 million was spent last year to rehabilitate about 52 farm roads. A further $800 million was later allocated under the hurricane recovery programme for nearly 50 additional roads.

“Last year, this Government was able to touch over 100 farming communities under our farm road programme,” Green said.

He said the current financial year had begun with roughly $670 million earmarked for farm roads, with additional resources expected as the programme expands.

Green added that his ministry and supporting agencies, including the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, were adopting a more durable approach to road rehabilitation. Engineering assessments, he said, would determine the most suitable construction methods and drainage requirements.

“It doesn’t make sense to fix the farm road and one year later the farm road is destroyed. If you need drains, put in the drain. Even if it makes the road shorter, it’s better we do it in phases than we don’t do this properly,” he said.

Green noted that farmers in Newcombe Valley had lobbied for decades for improvements to the road, which often became difficult to traverse during periods of heavy rainfall.

While acknowledging that many farm roads across the island still require attention, he assured farmers that the Government would continue expanding the programme.

“There are a lot of farm roads still to be done, and I want to assure the farmers that, one by one, we will get to your farm road. We want, over the next few years, to really reach a stage where the majority of our main producing farms and farmers have good roads,” he said.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com