A number of farmers in a section of the central Jamaica parish of Clarendon are ready to call it quits if there is no help from the state agencies to reduce their operational costs.

Observer Online spoke with a number of farmers from the farming area of Ritchies in the parish and they made it clear that their livelihood, their way of life and their independence are under threat due to the sharp increases in the price of inputs.

In fact some farmers have scaled back production with others looking at the prospect of quitting production altogether.

William Mason, a yellow yam farmer from Liewood, Ritchies, has been in the business for some 40 years. He said that he is contemplating cutting back production by three-fourths.

“It’s not working out,” he said. “The production is good, the yield is good but we are not recovering what we spend.”

Mason, who exports most of what he produces, said what he gets paid for a 100 weight was adequate ten years ago “but with today’s input that comes like nothing”.

He said one of the most important inputs to farming – fertilizer- has been steadily increasing in price. Mason said that for the past two years he has been buying the fertilizer at a loss to himself. He said “it’s not getting better, it’s getting worse.”

He has managed to cut some costs by reusing yam hills and using one stick for more than one yam hill.

But, the veteran farmer said that the relevant authority must be able to intercede on behalf of farmers to get better prices.

“It’s hard work and it takes nine months to a year before the produce is ready. We face drought or other disasters that can cause low production,” he noted. He has predicted that many young persons will not go into farming as it is difficult to earn a living.

“Young people are turning away from farming and you can’t blame them because they are just wasting their time,” said Mason.

When Observer Online spoke with Simon Stanley, who plants tomatoes, yam and plantain also in Liewood, Ritchies, he had just spent $6,000 on products to spray his tomatoes to prevent the cold weather from destroying his crop. His tomato plants are heavy with fruits and it will cost him a similar amount every five days to spray the crop so he may realise a decent harvest.

However, it is not guaranteed that he will make back his money once the crop is reaped. He pointed out that farming has become a gamble and once cannot anticipate prices. “This week I will have some green tomatoes in the field and it will cost $100 per pound but by the time my crop is ready within a week the price gone down to $50 dollars. The longer you hold on to them the more the prices drop” he said.

Stanley, who is a single father who raised four children on farming, noted that farmers might make some money if there is shortage due to a disaster as prices will go up.

Both Stanley and Mason said they previously employed persons to help on their farms; however, in the last few years they have to use extra labour sparingly due to the associated cost.

“It cost me $5,000 per day in pay and lunch to have someone help me on the farm. I am spraying and I should have someone helping me but it is just too expensive,” said Stanley.

Collectively, the farmers want a return of subsidies on fertilizers and key material needed in food production. They caution that such help should not be offered by the political representatives as this could lead to unequal distribution, fewer people benefitting and ill feelings.

For his part, Gerald Smikle who grows a variety of yams in Tweedside, wants set prices for food items. “If we know that a pound of yam will be sold for $100 then we would have something to work for but it can’t be that today food cost $150 per pound and tomorrow it is $80 that won’t encourage us.”

Like the other farmers, Smikle has abandoned about four-fifths of his farm due to him being unable to work the field, compounded by the consistent string of losses he has taken.

Jamaica’s farmers are aging and they are concerned that if things continue on the current trajectory, there will be no farmers left in the next ten years. Already, good plots of farmland are overgrown or left idle with no one working them.