FARMERS who suffered from the decline of the once thriving banana industry in St Mary and St Thomas are now poised to reap a livelihood from other crops, thanks to a partnership between Food For The Poor and the European Union Banana Support Programme.

The Economic Diversification Programme For Banana Producing Parishes, which is financed by the European Union (EU) and implemented by Food for the Poor, has provided 40 small farmers who traditionally cultivated bananas in Esher, St Mary and Somerset, St Thomas with plant materials, training and technical support to farm Scotch Bonnet peppers and rear bees and goats.

One of them is Delroy Robinson of Esher. He said he has been provided with Scotch Bonnet pepper seedlings, a water tank, fertiliser, pesticide, a spray can and a water pump — all the necessary ingredients for a successful crop.

“It is very expensive to buy the fertilisers and seedlings, which is sold for $900 per hundred,” he told the Jamaica Observer North East as he guided the team on a tour of his one-acre pepper farm on the Esher mainroad.

Already, he has set up a home-made irrigation system to feed water from the tank to the field instead of having to engage in the back-breaking task of manually watering the plants every day.

Robinson said there is a ready market for the peppers which is sought after by export processing factories, restaurants and householders, particularly during the winter season. The pepper, which takes about three months to be ready for harvesting, requires a lot of care as it must be frequently sprayed, fertilised, watered and weeded.

But the task provides employment for others, as Robinson said he needs additional help at certain stages of the process.

“When I am picking the peppers I use three persons along with myself and I use mainly women because they can manage the bending down better,” he explained.

This, as special care must be taken to ensure there is no damage to the trees which bear throughout the 18-month lifespan.

A farmer of more than 15 years, Robinson said he was forced out of banana production after his fields took constant battering from hurricanes.

“Banana used to create a lot of employment around here and the shops used to sell, but after that things just slow down so we glad for this opportunity to branch off into other things,” he said, adding that pepper is an ideal replacement because of market demand.

Fellow beneficiary John O’Connor said although he has always grown hot pepper to supply Walkers Wood and Tastee, he was never able to produce enough to meet the demands because of the lack of resources. Food for the Poor’s intervention has changed that.

It’s a treacherous trek to his plot of leased land deep in the St Mary lowlands, but O’Connor is bent on expanding production to capitalise on the ready market.

“I do majority of the work myself so far, but I have to employ persons to prepare the land and for harvesting,” said the Esher resident as he showed the team around his farm.

Like Robinson, O’Connor has plans to set a drip irrigation system so he won’t have to cart bucketsful of water down the treacherous path.

Another ex-banana farmer, Franklyn Russell, and his common-law wife Carmel Graham said the diversification programme is one of the best things which could happen to small farmers.

“In St Mary, we never see nothing like this come about and so this is much welcomed help for us,” said Graham, adding that they will ensure it is a success so that other farmers can be helped in the future.

A farmer of seven years, Russell said after the banana fall out he had turned to pineapples, but experienced limitations in how much he could produce as a result of the unavailability of lands. The couple explained that it is difficult to get land to lease even though many plots sit idle throughout the parish.

The only piece they could get their hands on is a wooded area miles from their home, but the couple is optimistic that the venture into pepper farming will be successful.

“I wish some government agency would come in and take the land and give it to those who want to work it,” Graham said.

Were they to have access to more land, they said, they would expand the pepper business market because of the demand, and would later foray into fever grass, an ingredient in many fragrances.

“Food For The Poor has given us a good push because although there is a lot of interest in farming, there is a lack of resources and so even if you cut down the land and cannot afford to put in the things it make no sense,” Graham said.

Unable to afford to employ a lot of persons now, Russell has Graham’s full support and that of his brother, Girvan Henry who helped him clear the land and plant some 2,000 seedlings in the last two months. Help also came from other participants in the programme who have engaged in ‘day for day’ which sees them taking turns to help each other.

Speaking at the recent launch of the programme chairman of Food For The Poor Andrew Mahfood said his charity started the project with the aim of assisting small banana farmers who are suffering from a downturn in the volume of production and exports of bananas, due mainly to falling prices on the world market, the non-competitiveness of Jamaica’s banana exports on the European market and the negative effects of natural disasters.

“Through the imparting of knowledge and skills by our agriculturalists and the RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Agency) Extension officers, this programme is creating a springboard for small farmers to benefit from new income-generating opportunities and increased profitability and this is consistent with FFP’s philosophy of encouraging sustainable development projects,” he said.