JACKSON TOWN, Trelawny – Thirty-seven-year- old Jackson Town spice farmer, Kemar Turner, could not mask his joy recently when Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that the island’s airports will be opened for international flights as of June 15.

Jamaica’s borders were closed on Mach 21, as part of efforts by the Government to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the small farmer and a few of his friends had been working assiduously, cultivating several crops including pepper, pumpkins, potato and corn, for the local and export markets.

Additionally, Turner and his team were busy making plans to expand the production of dried spices, in a bid to satisfy the growing demand, both locally and overseas, for those products.

And just before the shuttering of the tourism sector in March, Turner was fortunate then to have been selected by a number of hoteliers on the north coast to have his Ites Up Yuself brand crushed hot pepper and mixed seasoning sold in their gift shops.

Additionally, Turner had secured orders from several individuals living in the diaspora for the dried spice products.

The onset of the global pandemic, however, handed him a big blow, as he was unable to realise his dreams of significantly increasing his revenue, particularly for the production of dried spices, due to a drop in demand.

Now, Turner believes that the gradual reopening of the economy, including the resumption of international travel as of next Monday, will rebound to his benefit.

“I feel good, I welcome the decision by the Government to allow tourists to come here. Now, I will be able to showcase, market and trade my produce,” Turner told the Jamaica Observer West earlier this week.

The Moneague Teachers’ College alumnus added, however, that the necessary protocols must be observed.

“Even though I welcome the decision, the health of everyone comes first and so I hope that everyone will follow the necessary guidelines,” he argued.

Turner began farming at the age of 19 on family-owned lands in Jackson Town and Brompton in Trealwny.

He told the Observer West that his grandfather, Leopold Turner, a former field officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, played a great role in his decision to till the soil.

“Everything pertaining to farming, I would usually be around him, so I used to plant orange trees, coconut trees… any and everything about farming it was my grandfather who taught me. So, when I decided to go into farming a lot of the things that he taught me, I applied them,” Turner explained.

He said he decided to venture into the production of dried spices about three years ago, which was an effort to “get rid of” his Scotch bonnet peppers that he was unable to sell locally.

“Even though I had a good market for the peppers locally, I realised that at times I had a lot of peppers that were left over and spoiling, so I said to myself ‘I could make some money out of it’,” he shared.

“I started making the wet spice first, and then I realised that everybody was doing it, so I did my research and decided to dry the pepper, and make dried spices.”

Without state-of-the-art equipment, Turner and his friend Jimmy Brady later built several boxed and set to work.

“We built a few board boxes, set up lights in them and put the peppers in them to be dried. We also use sunlight to dry some, then, we use a blender to grind is up,” said Turner, in explaining aspects of the production of his dried spices.

“Everybody like it [spice], including lots of tourists, there is no salt in my spice products,” Turner stressed, adding that he started with dried pepper spice, but has since added dried mixed spices.

In recent months, Turner’s spices have become a staple in many Trelawny households. The hard-working small farmer’s products were featured at the February staging of the Annual Hague Agricultural and Livestock Show in the parish.

And with the reopening of the island’s tourism sector, the Turner said he is moving full speed ahead to increase production.

“Because of COVID we kind of slow down things a bit, but now because of the gradual return to the opening up of the economy, we are going to significantly increase production,” he told the Observer West.

Brady, in the meantime, is lauding Turner for his contribution to the local economy.

“It is a good cause… I really like what’s going on. He [Turner] has ambition and is really making a difference,” said Brady, as he urged youths in the parish to farm.

“We want more young people to join in farming. They are a lot of idle lands out there and plenty idle hands,” he argued.