A group of 20 greenhouse farmers say they have disproved the claim that ‘nothing’ can come out of the Blue Mountain community in Manchester.

Through a greenhouse project funded by the Jamaica Bauxite Institute and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, 20 farmers from the community were chosen as beneficiaries to work in one of the 20 greenhouses erected on an old bauxite mining site in the area.

The project, which has been implemented in other parishes affected by bauxite mining, took four years to reach Blue Mountain. However, the farmers remained optimistic and despite facing some challenges, are now reaping the benefits.

“It hasn’t rained since December and you know the outside farmer get a beaten that way, but at least we have some water through our pond and we are circulating to the different houses so the plants are not bad and we can mek a little something,” greenhouse farmer Nordia Williams told the

Jamaica Observer during a recent interview.

“We not in full swing, as some of houses just get planted, so we nuh inna di glory part yet, but we hanging on and this is hard-earned money because we looking about this four years now and now we get little something to reap,” Williams added.

The farmers, eight of whom are females, shared that at the time of construction in 2014 the young people in the community showed little interest in the project.

“The young people not interested, so we haffi do dis and try encourage dem to really come in, and tru we lose so much on the outside field, they say it nuh show nuh glory fi come in the greenhouse. But now yuh see dem get interested and yuh hear dem say dem neva know say a suh much crops can come from the greenhouse,” Williams said.

Fellow greenhouse farmer and site manager Oswal Boothe agreed. The younger residents of the community, he said, initially viewed the initiative as “something for old people”.

“The vision is coming now…we trying to get the community to buy into it but it’s not something yuh say I want a greenhouse and yuh get it; yuh haffi be a part of the club because there is an active club in the community,” Boothe said.

He said that they are working to make sure that a portion of the earnings is given back to the community as the project is not for individual gain, but for community development.

Boothe explained that since the project is still relatively new and they’ve only gone through a few reaping cycles, they have not yet reached the level where they can sell the tomatoes and sweet peppers produced to the hospitality sector, but they are steadfast in their efforts to get there.

“We have been waiting four years for this, so a lot of folks ran out of patience, but we stood by it, we know it was a Government project and that it was something that come through over time. We are trying, we love the project, we realise it will make money and we want to make money and so that’s the purpose… we want to alleviate poverty in the area,” Boothe explained.