The St Thomas farmers who were fleeced out of $4 million worth of produce by a man claiming to be an exporter are about to sign a marketing contract for the first batch of onions cultivated at the Government’s much-touted agro park in Plantain Garden River in the parish.

Under the contract, the farmers are guaranteed a market for all the onions they can produce on approximately 50 acres of land, and the men and women involved in the project say they are excited at the prospects.

“We are positive about this and we are excited that this will work,” said farmer Cecil Reynolds.

The farmers were expected to sign the contract last week but this was delayed as they wanted the opportunity to peruse it further, given their recent experience with the exporter who failed to honour the agreement they signed.

Last week the police identified the exporter as Dean Clover Orell Williams and placed him on their wanted list for allegedly obtaining credit by fraud.

Williams is accused of fleecing the farmers of their produce in late December 2012 and again in January this year.

“We were to be signing the contract today but some of the farmers said they wanted to take it home and go through it,” Clarence Thompson, who heads the 40-member strong Rowlands Field Farming Group, told the Jamaica Observer North East immediately following a meeting of the farmers last Tuesday.

He said they are eager to begin cultivating the crop and hope to start sowing the seeds by next month.

Already the 50 farmers participating in the project have started preparing the land and the irrigation system is expected to be installed soon by the National Irrigation Commission.

With Jamaica said to be importing some 22 million pounds of onion each year, the farmers are confident that they will not be faced with a shortage of market for the produce.

“We are not producing even 25 per cent of that amount, so we should not have a problem to sell all the onions we grow,” one farmer said.

However, they are insistent that their ability to sell all the onions they can grow will be contingent on the agriculture ministry’s decision to place a cap on the imports.

During the recent budget presentation, Minister of Finance Dr Peter Phillips said approximately $1.1 billion is expected to flow to farmers before the end of this fiscal year, as a result of activities on the first five of nine proposed agro parks to be established across the island.

This, he said, will also result in direct employment for 1,500 persons, with an additional 2,500 receiving part-time jobs.

The nine agro parks, which are to be implemented over the next three years at a cost of US$8 million, will assist in the creation of employment, increase agricultural output, reduce the national food import bill and stimulate food exports.

The parks are to be funded in part by the European Union and are being developed jointly with the Agro Investment Corporation and the National Irrigation Commission providing infrastructural development and irrigation facilities, respectively.

The St Thomas farmers are expecting to reap a minimum 600,000 pounds of onions every five months, although the projection is that the actual output could be closer to 1.5 million pounds.

Last week when the Observer North East visited the farm, the farmers were engaged in a meeting to discuss the contract as well as to learn more about the working capital which will be provided to assist them with production.

An official, who requested anonymity as he is not authorised to speak with the media, explained that under the agro park initiative the farmers will also be provided with working capital to get their individual farms up and running.

He further explained that the working capital is in the form of a crop lien with the produce being used as the security. Each farmer, he said, will be responsible for the repayment of their loan at 9.7 per cent interest rate per annum.

The St Thomas Credit Union, which is the disbursing agency, was able to access the $18-million loan from the Development Bank of Jamaica.

Under this arrangement, the purchaser will pay the money for the onions directly to the credit union within 14 days of receiving the supply. The credit union will then be responsible for withdrawing the loan payment before paying out the remainder to the farmers, the Observer North East was told.

The official explained further that there is an agro-invest risk mitigation fund which is available to the farmers to assist in protecting their investment.

Meanwhile, the farmers are already eagerly looking to the production of ginger, the next crop slated to come on stream under a similar initiative.