THE Upper Clarendon Farmers Association (UCFA) has started to reap financial rewards one year after it started marketing scotch bonnet pepper in Jamaica and overseas.

According to Adlyn Astley, marketing officer for the association, the group had sold 4,037 pounds of the pepper up to August 21, earning $70,000 in revenues. The association became operational in June 2003.

The peppers produced by member farmers were either exported or sold to local supermarket operations, at prices ranging between $15 and $20 per pound.

According to Astley, speaking last month at the UCFA’s annual general meeting, the association could have done much better if the crops had not suffered the effects of heavy rains in 2003, which destroyed several small holdings under production.

The association was unable to fully supply its market, with several customers insisting that the farmers sort through the problems before recommitting to large purchases. Astley said further that some farmers transported their peppers in poorly-ventilated and dirty packages, adding to the problems.

The farmers got something of a fresh start in May with subsidised seedlings from the Agricultural Support Services Project (ASSP).

But four months later, they were hit by Hurricane Ivan, again wiping out their crops. On the plus side, however, the UCFA still boasts three vibrant groups in Thompson Town and Victoria, Smithville, and Richmond Park.

The organisation, assisted by the ASSP, is now negotiating with land owners in upper Clarendon to lease property better suited to cultivate peppers. The farms will be utilising irrigation water, for example, rather than depending on rainfall.

The association’s aim is to improve the production and productivity of scotch bonnet pepper in Clarendon and Jamaica.

Their earlier attempt at producing a ton of peppers on thirty acres of land, has not been realised due to a number of problems encountered, among them the destruction of a storage and market area in Thompson Town by vandals and the low price that the market is willing to pay farmers for the peppers.

This has resulted in less than half of the 30 farmers who had signed onto the project remaining in pepper. “Though we may have not produced much peppers for the last year, we have achieved much in the consolidation of the association,” said secretary of the organisation Wesley Harris.

He further added that though many have left the project, UCFA plans to woo them back by initiating other activities that highlight the lucrative side of scotch bonnet production.

Richard Azan, the Member of Parliament for North West Clarendon, who has provided both financial and material help to the organisation, says he hopes the farmers find the courage to stay with the project, despite the environmental challenges and the praedial thieves.