FARMING is heavily promoted in Jamaica with the admonition to “Grow what you eat and eat what you grow”, but officials warn that improper or unsustainable farming practices in the Caribbean pose a serious threat to the environment.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which monitors the linkages between the environment and agriculture, said a key challenge for the agriculture sector is to feed an increasing global population while at the same time reducing the environmental impact and preserving natural resources for future generations.

According to environmentalists, agriculture has been identified as a major source of water pollution through fertiliser run-off, pesticide use and livestock waste.

Ainsworth Riley, the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) agri-business specialist in Jamaica, told the Jamaica Observer that soil erosion or landslides taking farm chemicals to water supplies can be detrimental.

“Farmers who are planting on the hillside where they are usually prone to erosion or water run-off, the encouragement is for them to have soil conservation methods that will prevent the water run-off. If they spray pesticides and it rains, what happens is that when the water is running off the hillside it’s going to take the pesticides with it and, of course, it will go into the water bodies downstream,” he said.

“Those farmers who plant coffee, that is the usual concern… that chemical, especially when there is rain, will run off. The other thing which might be difficult for them to avoid is actual leaching of the chemicals or pesticides… it soaks through the soil and all the way down, which is why they are encouraged to plant a certain distance away from water bodies.”

Local and regional farmers explained to the Sunday Observer why these chemicals are necessary for the development of their crops.

Barbadian farmer Devane Toppin recently added onions to his string of crops. Originally, he cultivated only watermelons, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and okras.

“On my potatoes I use something name Mortel in terms of spoilage. That spray is recommended for the scarabs [insect] so that is the main spray I get for my potatoes. I also use another spray name Newmectin, and fungicide wise I use another one name Amistar,” Toppin told the Sunday Observer.

Safety precautions for Mortel advise against the insecticide touching the mouth, eyes and skin. Meanwhile, Amistar is categorised as “slightly toxic”.

“If I don’t use these, the potatoes will be gone by the time you’re ready to dig the potato. The scarab is like a little beetle that lives in the soil. It eats through the potato as the potato is developing — it’s like a termite,” Toppin added.

Keeta Bowens, a St Vincent farmer, said: “I use Gramoxone before planting, and I use a pesticide called Fastac. I normally spray it to prevent crickets and those stuff.”

Gramoxone, also known as paraquat poisoning, is a chemical herbicide or weed killer that is highly toxic. It is one of the most common herbicides used today but it can cause fatal poisoning when ingested or inhaled.

Anthony Cole, who operates Cole’s Fresh Produce in Kingston, uses Diuron, a pineapple weedicide chemical, and Caratraks, an insecticide for ants and other insects.

Diuron is deemed “slightly toxic” by manufacturers, however, it can irritate the eyes and throat.

“If not utilised effectively, then I would see a reduction in crop produce due to pest infestation [and] therefore the loss of production yield through these variants,” Cole reasoned.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) lists several “good practices” that can reduce soil run-off and in turn prevent the “worrying” issue of water contamination.

In Grenada grass barriers are used to reduce surface run-off through detention and infiltration, diverting run-off to a stable outlet.

Planting trees along borders or at the centre of the plot in any environment suitable for regular cultivation of crops, in order to mitigate the impacts of all weather-related disasters like hurricanes, is practised in Haiti.

The alley-cropping farming method in Jamaica, whereby trees are planted in rows with crops between them, controls soil erosion and increases the water-holding capacity of soil.

Further, officials have said that when these practices aren’t upheld in some cases, farming counters its intended purpose – which is to provide food. This is so as erosions and landslides often lead to food insecurity and a loss of investment, all while causing environmental damage.

With the global population expected to reach nine billion by mid-century the FAO projects that global food demand may increase by 70 per cent by 2050.

UN Secretary General António Guterres said unless immediate action is taken, “it is increasingly clear that there is an impending global food security emergency that could have long-term impacts on hundreds of millions of adults and children”.

But regional farmers are already losing many crops to natural disasters.

Toppin told the Sunday Observer that his first crop of onions was destroyed last year by heavy rains.

“I planted onions for the first time [on] a Saturday, and we got rain from the Monday straight down to the Friday. So, all of them get washed away. If we get heavy showers, that can be a big disadvantage; but if we get hurricane, we can’t control the rain — so be it,” he said.

Barbados’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security said the farmers’ challenges were twofold – excess water from run-off during heavy rainfall and a lack of water during the dry season.

In 2017 Errol McIntosh, a Georgia district, St Thomas, farmer lost almost all his vegetation after heavy rains flooded the parish, triggering landslides.

“Mi lose sweet pepper, banana and plantain, tomatoes, and mi cocoa. It terrible because I’ve lost a lot in the field,” he said, noting that he was discouraged from farming.

“It hurt mi to know that I had tomato reaping and tomato on the verge of blossoming and bearing, and when I go and see it that everything is just mould up.”

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) revealed that as a result of heavy rains from January 31 to February 1 this year, damage to livestock and crops in the parishes St Mary and Portland had amounted to approximately $76.8 million, leaving more than 551 farmers affected.

In 2020 some 2, 955 hectares of crops were lost, valued at over $2.5 billion and affecting approximately 14,181 Jamaican farmers due to weather conditions.

The Agriculture Ministry said the heaviest loss were experienced in the poultry sector, at an estimated value of $12 million.

Alpha Celestin, a Bahamian banana farmer, recounted his experience with Category 5 Hurricane Dorian in 2019, describing it as “rough”.

Celestin, from Grand Bahama, said they had never had that amount of water in the area before. When flood waters ran off his banana farm was ruined as all the crops were damaged.

“If right after the hurricane we had a good deal of water, rainwater to flush it, that would’ve been different.”

The Sunday Observer understands that up until last year, Abaco Big Bird Poultry Farm in The Bahamas was only operating at 15 per cent its capacity before Dorian.

The Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Marine Resources in The Bahamas described the damage caused by Hurricane Dorian on the agriculture and marine industries as “catastrophic”.

It said the hurricane caused over $60 million in damage.

However, despite the weather threat to the farmers, Compete Caribbean — a private sector development programme that provides technical assistance grants and investment funding to support productive development policies and business climate reforms in the Caribbean — warns that “unsustainable farming practices” are what present the increasing threats to water and food insecurity.