GRANGE HILL, Westmoreland — Farmers in Westmoreland’s tourism belt, who have been severely impacted by the ongoing drought, have welcomed a recent donation of water storage tanks from the tourism ministry.

The 47 Rhino tanks, each with a capacity of 650 gallons, were funded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) and distributed mostly to farmers within the Negril and Grange Hill areas of Westmoreland over the past three weeks.

Chicken farmer Dawn Warren from Peggy Barry in Grange Hill, who currently has about 100 chickens, said her birds are badly affected by the dry conditions.

“They are suffering a lot. When time is hot like right now, they need the water. So, mi get it and mi grateful and I give thanks to the Government fi it,” said Warren who has been farming for the past year.

She said it is costly to purchase water from trucks and expressed concern that the amount of water she can afford is not enough to accomplish all she needs to do at her house and serve her chickens.

“It is very rough. Right now, it is very bad. When I buy a 400 gallon, it cannot do anything. [I have] bathroom, house, chicken, it can’t do anything. Right now I am thinking to guh and buy water because I don’t have.

“From mi get the tank, mi good. Mi can buy little water and when it come a pipe, mi set up a night and full mi tank,” added Warren, who noted that it cost approximately $5,000 to fill a 400-gallon tank.

Animal farmer Nigel Greenfield said he has lost three pigs to the drought and receiving a black tank has given him renewed hope.

“We have been suffering because we have the animals them, and they are dying because of the drought and all of dem tings deh. So, this will help me. I know that, in the long run, I will need more still. But this will help push me still for the time being and I am glad to know that it comes where I can get it today,” Greenfield said.

He rears chickens, pigs and goats and said he would normally get water from a spring referred to as Blue Hole. But with the drought affecting that source, Greenfield said the donated tank will allow him to store water purchased.

Bee farmer Giadual Patrick, who also grows crops and rears animals, is happy for the tank he received.

He blamed the drought for the death of three of the 30 animals he has lost over the last two years. He said dogs killed the others.

“I continue to hold on and press on same way. And then the drought comes and gets heavier and heavier where the sweet pepper dying, cabbage, callaloo, pak choi. I was facing it so much,” said Patrick.

He anticipates that the tank will help him turn things around.

“I will be able to fill it and water the plants dem until I can get back on my feet. Once I have something to store water by catching water from the river, it will help,” stated Patrick.

Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Western Morland Wilson said sometime between late January and February, when he realised that drought was getting worse, he approached Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett for assistance.

“We all realised how difficult the drought was becoming and that’s when we all decided to take some action to minimise any fallout that may occur in the short-term drought conditions,” said the MP.

Wilson said several farmers, some of whom had lost animals, had reached out to his office for help.

“In one particular case, a farmer from Town Head lost three cows and he called me begging that we provide a tank to support his farm. He had a pond. However, the pond had dried up and the water got so low that it got contaminated and began to poison the animals. We had to move the animals from that ranch to another location,” said Wilson.

He pointed out that, with the tank received, the farmer will now be able to utilise barrels he has in a pickup to transport water to the storage tank.

In addition to the State-funded assistance provided to farmers, the MP on Monday made a donation of a tank to the Peggy Barry Primary & Infant School.

According to the school’s Principal Joren Frazer Williams, their biggest hurdle was not the drought, but the long-standing issue of an inadequate supply of piped water and challenges with storing the commodity when it is provided.

“I have a problem with storage because I have to recondition some old tanks that I have, to ensure that we have water; because water is trucked. This new tank that I am getting will help to alleviate our problems and I am grateful to our MP,” stated Frazer Williams.

The school currently has a population of 196 students and Williams said the tanks they have need to be refilled each day.