Mandeville, Manchester — Experts and farmers agree that one main reason the destructive beet army worm infestation took hold in southern Manchester and southern St Elizabeth in April and May was that reaping had slowed to a crawl.The reason was that the price of staple crops, especially escallion had plummeted to as low as $15 per pound in the field, causing many farmers to feel it wasn’t worth reaping.That was a bad mistake, experts say, since it allowed the beet army worm to simply settle and multiply during its peak breeding season.According to Marina Young, principal director of technical services at the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), that’s a mistake that must not be repeated.“Even if escallion (price) is down (it) must move from the field… if escallion had moved from the field we wouldn’t be here today… ,” Young said during a farming forum at the New Forest/Duff House Water Users’ Association Office in New Forest last week.Young’s comments came just before Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, J C Hutchinson, handed over seeds and equipment, including spray pumps, mist blowers and weed whackers to the water users’ association to speed up production recovery from the worm infestation – said to have cost millions of dollars – and improve crop management.Locals say the army worm outbreak in April/May badly damaged or destroyed about 150 acres of productive farms, mostly escallion, but also cucumber, melon, tomatoes and other crops at the 450-hectare, fully irrigated New Forest/Duff House Agro Park, which is home to the water users’ group.The result of the destruction is that last week escallion prices soared to up to $150 per pound in the field and $250 and more in markets.However, those high prices spelt the death knell of the current beet army worm infestation. Hearing the high prices, farmers have rushed to destroy the pest using non-chemical and chemical methods in the hope they will cash in from remaining healthy fields.“The price of escallion has gone up… so farmers hunting for worms and killing them because at $150 per pound, no little worm can’t compete with that… one, two, three, dat dead,” explained leading New Forest/Duff House farmer and executive of the water users’ association, Conrad Murray.He expects that in short order escallion production will be back to normal, with prices stabilising. Crucially, said Murray, the authorities should resist any pressure to import escallion.The farmers say they are used to the boom/bust phenomenon in agriculture. But they believe ways must be found to reduce its impact by making demand more constant from season to season.The answer they believe is through value-added methods, using available technology to process farm products in order to radically extend shelf life and reach consumers at home and overseas in supermarkets and other retail outlets.At the forum in New Forest, leading farmer Oswald Bent showed off sample products, including dried escallion powder, thyme powder and bagged chopped escallion which he believes can bring greater sustainability to farming at New Forest/Duff House and increase demand, thereby breaking the boom and bust cycle.“These products, the ideas, came from New Forest/Duff House Water Users’ Association. These (products) were done in collaboration with the Scientific Research Council and the RADA facility in Twickenham did the drying and milling of those products and then the Bureau of Standards has to approve,” explained Bent.Already, Bent said, he had identified considerable consumer interest in the product at home and abroad. The problem is how to get it done efficiently and in sufficient quantities to meet market demand.For Murray such a project would not only put money in farmers’ pockets; it would reduce the risk of overproduction and minimise outbreaks such as the beet army worm.“New Forest needs to process escallion powder, thyme powder, red pepper powder… so we can meet the market near and far to keep the beet army worm at bay,” he declared.Hence the plea to Hutchinson last week for government to assist in the provision of appropriate facilities in south Manchester to process spices and vegetables. Hutchinson, a passionate advocate of value added in food production: “Grow what we eat, eat what we can and can what we can’t”, had a quick answer.In a few months, he said, a facility which he dubbed an “incubator” will be completed at the RADA office in Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth, about 12 miles from New Forest, which will allow farm groups such as the water users’ association to process their farm produce.“Anybody who wants to do any sort of processing of fruits, vegetables, root crops, they are able to go there (Santa Cruz) and have it processed,” said Hutchinson.The minister later told journalists that the facility in Santa Cruz, like several others of its type around the country, will be “AESOP certified so that they (farm groups) can be able to export directly after having their products done through this process”.Huitchinson declined to specify the capacity of the plant being developed in Santa Cruz, but said it will have “a big capacity”. Neither would he give the cost of the project. Equipment was now being delivered, he said.“This incubator has different lines and can produce different things, for instance, mash for escallion and thyme, for cutting up escallion we have a machine that can do it, somebody wants to juice fruits, there is a line that can do it …,” he said.St Elizabeth apart, such facilities were being developed in several other parishes, including Trelawny, St James and Hanover, Hutchinson said.