A phrase often used by a number of Jamaicans that ‘nutten naah gwaan’ in the face of the high unemployment rate wasn’t one that Derrick Dunn even thought about.

The Portland resident’s ingenious way of extracting juice from sugar cane has not only earned him the admiration from residents but a steady stream of orders from a growing customer base.

Dunn said that every day he produces up to five gallons of the juice from cane which is squeezed by a manual operation of using a piece of stick inserted into a hole in a tree.

Explaining how it is done, Dunn said while any strong tree will work he uses a guava tree in which a hole is bored deep enough to accommodate one end of the stick. A table base is then built with a trough to allow the juice to flow into a bucket placed below.

The cane is first washed and scraped, following which Dunn uses the pressure of the stick against the cane to extract the juice. He then adds ginger, lime or sour orange to improve the flavour before straining and bottling the juice for sale.

Nothing goes to waste as the remains of the cane is used as feed for the pigs he raises.

Dunn said although he only started bottling cane juice for sale in the last three years, he has been doing this since he was a child, having learnt the skill from watching his father.

“There is a technique to doing this,” he told the Jamaica Observer North East while extracting juice from his home in Golden Vale. Someone is coming for a gallon right now and I have to do another three gallon for someone else,” he added.

Dunn said it is normal for residents to stop by his house on any given day in the hope of sampling the refreshing cane juice.

For now, he sells a gallon of cane juice for $500 and a small bottle for between $50 and $100.

According to Dunn, the demand for cane juice is great because of its nutritional value and the fact that it is all natural. Sugar cane, he said, provides added energy as is evident when he drinks a cup each day

“The only thing I add to it is lemon, ginger or sour orange to add flavour, and that is why people love it because it is all natural,” he told the Observer North East.

Dunn, who worked in catering previously, said he has even come up with a way to preserve the cane juice for a longer shelf life while maintaining its naturalness.

But Dunn’s dream is to be able to operate his home-made business on a larger scale, and is hoping he can get the necessary assistance to launch out.

He believes he could launch a profitable business if only he could acquire a machine which would make it easier and quicker for him to extract the juice.

“Things are slow in the country but this has a whole lot of potential, and I could produce so much more cane juice if only I had a modern machine to do it,” he explained.

According to Dunn, the demand for cane juice is more than he can meet.

“Sometimes I get more orders than I can supply because there is not a lot of people doing this,” he explained.

The farmer also said he still has a lot more unoccupied land which he could utilise for planting several more acres of sugar cane.

This, he said, would also help to provide employment for others as he could use as much cane as can be planted. Cane, he said, is ready for harvesting every six months, hence he would be guaranteed a steady stream of raw material.

He currently farms three acres of sugar cane.

Dunn’s neighbour Lascelle Hartley said there is nothing like going next door to get a long drink of the refreshing sugar cane juice.

“Sometimes when I drink it my belly full up, and I don’t even feel fi nuh more food,” he said.