THE EDITOR, Sir:
KINDLY ALLOW me space in your paper to make a humble petition to the Hon. Roger Clarke, Minister of Agriculture.
The subject I would like to bring to our Hon. Minister is the condition and plight of the farming community from Clarendon right through to Westmoreland. This dilemma is more concentrated in St. Elizabeth than anywhere else especially Southfield through Pedro Plains to Black River.
This area has been named the Bread Basket of Jamaica. There has been no rainfall between Southfield and Black River during 2003. This is an area rearing cattle and other livestock and growing melon, pumpkin, Irish potato, corn.
The lack of rainfall during the eight months of this year has greatly affected farming enterprises along the South Coast thereby shutting down livestock rearing, growing of vegetables, ground provisions, etc.
Ninety per cent of these people are small farmers and farm hands, so one can easily understand the suffering when there is no rainfall for eight months.
Farmers who owned their own holdings can be helped by the floating of a special rehabilitation loan so that the farmers can be on standby for the rains which could begin to fall any time now.
My request on behalf of all the farmers from Clarendon through Manchester and St. Elizabeth to Westmoreland is that a special loan programme could be put in place to make loans readily available to farmers with the same speed as is available in the Credit Unions and that a subsidy fund be included as farmers who have been trying to cope have lost millions of dollars due to drought conditions.
What we need is, a number of bulldozers, tractors, planters and other equipment and low-interest subsidised loans.
I am sure that the Minister is aware of what I am saying and will devise a scheme before it is too late. While there is life there is hope.
I am, etc.,
J.H.D. PARCHMENT
Watchwell P.A.
St. Elizabeth
