RIVERSDALE, St Catherine — For the last 26 years, reigning national champion farmer, Adeeb Azan, has been operating a successful 146-hectare (365 acres) property in this community, producing orchard crops, rearing livestock and operating a dairy.

But with no formal training in agriculture, Azan, driven purely by his dedication to the profession and a strong belief in God, has been able to achieve success in an industry where many others have failed.

“I have no formal training except to say that I am a Christian. I believe in the Lord, and I ask him to guide me in everything that I do,” he told JIS News.

Champion farmer for 2001 and 2002, the Manchester-born Azan grew up in the Corporate Area. However in 1977, his deep love for agriculture led to him to seek out his “ideal piece of heaven on earth” and he settled on the property in Riversdale, which he claims, “the Lord provided” for him and his family.

Taking advice from experts and ploughing back some 75 per cent of earnings into the farm annually, Azan has been able to improve his operation and become a steady employer for 30 full-time and 10 seasonal workers.

In addition to his regular operation, he has been a contract chicken grower with Jamaica Broilers for the past 20 years, providing the company with approximately 780,000 chickens every year. His farm also supplies full cream milk to Nestle Limited.

And he boasts that he is “a professor of tomato”, being able to get this fruit to grow anywhere, even in his mother’s backyard in Kingston.

Azan’s hard work and dedication over the years has paid off with national recognition, for the last two years, as champion farmer.

Ironically, he was reluctant to enter the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) competition, and it was his wife and business partner Maria, who felt that he “deserved to be recognised nationally for his work”. She submitted the entries for the contest on both occasions.

The grandfather, who also has four boys of his own, intends to stay in farming for as long as he is able to. In fact, he has plans to go into the production of tropical fish and value-added items.

The champion farmer strongly believes that the country can produce itself out of its economic woes and called on government to provide incentives to encourage farming.

“Despite all of the negatives about farming, I feel that it is the way forward,” Azan told JIS News.

He pointed out, however, that local farmers are faced with many challenges including high production costs and competition from highly subsidised goods from abroad. He has therefore urged Government to offer greater protection to Jamaican farmers.

“I feel that if Government offers some assistance to us in terms of subsidies or grants or some sort of protection against this force from outside, we can still make a living,” he argued.

He suggested the local practising of zone farming, which involves the growing of crops in areas where they thrive. For example, he said, oranges could be planted in St Thomas, while yam could be grown in Trelawny. He insisted that it was a waste of resources to plant crops in areas where they do not do well.

The champion farmer also encouraged his peers to approach farming as a business and place value on their personal contribution to the sector.

“Any day they approach farming as a business, where everything has a cost, looking at the bottom line, I feel they can do well,” he said.

He added that for agriculture to be sustainable, young people must become involved in the profession, noting that the sector provides viable economic opportunities for young persons who are willing to work hard and who have no hang-ups about working with animals and tilling the soil.

Originating from what was originally termed the prize holding competition, the champion farmer award is given based on a number of criteria including the appearance of the farm, quality of record keeping, efficiency and innovations in farming.

The selection of the national champion farmer is one of the highlights of the annual JAS Denbigh agricultural and industrial show, which takes place at the Denbigh Showgrounds in Clarendon. This year’s show is slated for August 1 to 3.